Govt Prepares Safety Standards for Tourism Activities

The government is cooperating with a renowned university in order to create standards that will make activities for tourism safe. These activities are, namely, land tourism, adventure sports and ziplines.

According to the Bangkok Post, deputy permanent secretary for Tourism and Sports Taweesak Wanichcharoen said that the Tourism and Sports Ministry is currently working with the Faculty of Engineering at the Kasetsart University in order to create these safety standards.

Mr. Taweesak said that Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn put him in charge of the project, which aims to foster confidence among tourists and tourism business operators.

He said that the parties involved have already convened a meeting this month, and have created manuals that will help tourists and operators minimize accidents while carrying out tourism activities.

According to the Tourism permanent secretary, the standards that the two parties have created will first be tested in six provinces: Chiang Mai, Phuket, Kanchanaburi, Udon Thani, Chon Buri and Bangkok. Mr. Taweesak said that these standards should help with improving the growth of tourism in Thailand, after a year of inactivity due to the lockdown and the ongoing pandemic.

These standards will be put into motion shortly after the reopening of the country on October.

These updates come at a time when Thailand is starting to reopen the country to foreign tourism, with the goal of fully reopening and removing restrictions like mandatory quarantine by January 2022.

Phuket has already received approval from the Center for Economic Situation Administration to partially reopen to foreign tourists, who will be able to enjoy a reduced mandatory quarantine period.

According to Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Yuthasak Supasorn, tourists with proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test result upon arrival will be able to shorten quarantine period to 7 days.

This will become effective on July 1, he said. Mr. Yuthasak also added that this reduction will only be implemented by six provinces.

“The areas are Phuket, Phang Nga, Koh Smui, Pattaya, and Chaing Mai,” he specified.

By the third quarter, however, Mr. Yuthasak said that Phuket will be able to remove the quarantine requirement for incoming tourists. All other provinces will still mandate quarantine, albeit at a shorter period for those who are vaccinated.

In the last three months of 2021, the TAT governor said, the five other provinces will be able to remove their quarantine requirements for incoming tourists. However, visitors are required to still follow disease control measures.

The TAT governor also specified that Phuket must be able to achieve herd immunity before the reduced quarantine can be implemented starting July 1. This means that 70% of the population must be immunized against the COVID-19 by that time.

The governor estimated that there will be 100,000 tourists in Phuket alone by the second quarter. By end of the year, Mr. Yuthasak said that Thailand would have welcomed THB6.5 million tourists, earning a total income of THB350 billion.

The tourism industry earned almost THB2 trillion from almost 40 million tourist arrivals in 2019.

Source:
ThePhuketNews
BangkokPost