After more than two years largely shut off to the rest of the world, Thailand fully reopened to visitors this month, scrapping the requirement for a negative Covid test, unless unvaccinated.
The relaxation has been hailed by tourist leaders after what has been a bitterly difficult pandemic for the tourism-reliant kingdom.
While Thailand began gradually easing its border controls from November last year, stringent testing rules and cumbersome documentation for entry continued to deter many visitors.
The number of foreign tourists entering jumped sharply to just under half a million in the first quarter of this year, up from a little over 20,000 during the same period in 2021. But it’s still a far cry from 2019, when almost 40m tourists visited the country.
Cheap seats to the capital
Another recent boost to the tourist sector has been the launch of low-cost, long-haul airline Scoot, a…
