Thailand has begun to close indefinitely popular tourist sites, including attractions, due to a lack of foreign tourists and a drop in income, Nikkei Asia reported. Restaurants, bars and hotels are also closing.
In Bangkok, the Talad Rot Fai Ratchada night market, flea market, Siracha tiger zoo in Chonburi province and other places have closed. In general, Thailand’s tourism industry revenues fell by 71% over the past year, and by 74% in the first half of 2021. Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for a quarter of the country’s GDP.
Earlier, the Thai island of Phuket was opened to foreign tourists vaccinated against coronavirus from July 1. In addition, it was reported that the province of Pattaya in Thailand from October 1 plans to cancel the 14-day quarantine for foreign tourists due to the fact that by this time 70% of local residents in the region should be vaccinated. A 14-day quarantine on arrival in Thailand is now mandatory.
Finally, in mid-July, Thai authorities said they plan to open the country within 120 days to coronavirus-vaccinated tourists.
On August 12, the Thai Ministry of Health registered a record 22,782 new cases of coronavirus per day, 147 patients died. According to Johns Hopkins University, since the beginning of the pandemic, 863,189 people have been infected in the country, 7,126 have died.
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