Let's travel together

Thailand’s new policy: "Let’s travel together" taking effect on July 15

In the second half of 2020, in order to stimulate the tourism industry to restore the economy, the Thai government really worked hard!

The Thai government is preparing to allocate 22.4 billion baht to build the [Let’s Travel Together] plan, hoping that the Thai tourism industry can be restored as soon as possible under the premise that the Covid-19 epidemic is under control, and the economy can be boosted.

At the cabinet meeting on July 1, the name of the travel plan was changed, and the two plans [We Go Travel Together] and [Happy Travel Sharing] were merged into one [Let’s Travel Together] Plans and announced a series of tourism subsidy directions.

It should be noted that the effective time of this measure has been delayed until July 15, 2020. In other words, after July 15th, friends can plan how to travel!

Don't get excited, continue to read the rules.

Officials predict that the tourism stimulus will have a combined economic effect of 52.4 billion baht. The Kaitai Research Center predicts that Thailand's domestic tourism market will not be able to return to positive growth in the second half of 2020, and the market will be severely hit in the first half of the year.

Based on the assumption that Thailand's Covid-19 epidemic will no longer be a serious outbreak, it is estimated that the total number of domestic tourists in 2020 will be about 89.5-91.5 million, or a decrease of about 45.2%-46.4% year-on-year, and domestic tourism revenue will be about 545-5670 billion baht, year-on-year shrinking 47.5%-49.5%, fortunately better than originally expected.

What are the specific subsidies for the government's [Let’s Travel Together] plan?

Taking hotel accommodation subsidies as an example, 40% of the government subsidies will be directly transferred to the hotelier’s bank account, up to a maximum of 3,000 baht/room/night. At the same time, it is stipulated that the consecutive stay shall not exceed 5 nights.

In terms of meal and ticket subsidies, the government also makes up for 40%, but the limit is 600 baht per person, and the air ticket subsidy is capped at 2,000 baht per person (the limit is 2 million tickets).

In addition, the travel plan to reward medical and community medical workers in Thailand is still subsidizing 2,000 baht per person. The travel agency in Thailand arranges a "2 days and 1 night" trip, benefiting 1.2 million medical workers in Thailand.

As early as June, Thailand was preparing for the reopening of cross-border tourism and formulating relevant policy routes, looking forward to welcome the return of domestic and foreign tourists, including the gradual opening of international flights.

In parallel with this policy, the [international flight ban] will be cancelled on July 1, 2020, allowing international flights to enter Thailand.

In other words, Thailand’s period of “epidemic seclusion” that began on April 3 is over. In theory, foreigners can fly to Thailand.

Why does Thailand dare to plan to open up cross-border tourism? Isn't it afraid that the epidemic will break out again?

On the one hand, it is because the local epidemic in Thailand has been better controlled, and it is also hoped that tourism can be used to boost the economy that has been frustrated by the epidemic.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Prayut is deeply inspired by the concept of the “Travel Bubble” (Travel Bubble) in the EU's recent tourism policy guide, believing that it can open up exchanges between countries whose epidemics are also under control, and attract people from countries with less epidemics tourists.

Under the "Travel Bubble", citizens of countries with well-controlled epidemics will be exempted from quarantine entry, and only need to undergo virus testing or provide relevant health certificates to well control the risk.

For example, entry will not be forced to be isolated for 14 days, but must be tested for the virus. In addition, the customs will perform infrared body temperature scanning and luggage disinfection treatment for tourists.

Under the implementation of a series of policies and prevention and control measures, officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand revealed that they have received a personal message from Prime Minister Prayut, requesting the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand to fully prepare for the resumption of cross-border tourism.

After Prime Minister Prayut’s announcement, the stimulus measures that the authorities are preparing simultaneously is [Let’s travel together]. With the announcement of the subsidy direction, some netizens are ridiculing how to get the benefit, and some netizens are worried about whether the Covid-19 epidemic will be rebounded due to reopen of cross border tourism .

At present, the domestic epidemic in Thailand is under control, and there has not been any domestic infection case recently. Most of the well-meaning netizens and local Thai partners hope that Thailand can stabilize the situation in overcoming the epidemic and not face the risk of the epidemic being brought in again because of the opening of cross-border travel.