Thailand’s southern resort island of Koh Samui plans to fully reopen to foreign visitors who are vaccinated, and will allow them to skip quarantine from October 1.
“The island’s economy and infrastructure were built around foreign tourism, and businesses here have been struggling without foreign visitors over the past year,” Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, said in a phone interview on Saturday.
“We need to reopen as soon as possible to be able to compete for visitors with other countries.”
Koh Samui’s quarantine-free reopening plan is similar to the initiative proposed by Phuket, another Thai resort island, which seeks to waive quarantine rules for vaccinated travelers and to inoculate enough residents to create herd immunity.
Like Phuket, Koh Samui has its own international airport on the island, which makes it a natural…
