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| Local tourists visiting the market next to the giant statue of famous Buddhist monk Luang Pu Thuat in a park outside Ayutthaya, north of the capital Bangkok. (Photo by=AFP/Mladen Antonov) |
[아시아뉴스통신=레악카나 기자] Thailand has delayed plans for a "travel bubble" agreement with select countries as new daily COVID-19 cases rise in parts of Asia, putting pressure on its vital tourism industry and complicating efforts to revive its battered economy. Thailand first proposed the idea in June to allow movement between select countries that have low infection numbers, without the need for travellers to undergo quarantine.
"Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea were among those considered (for a travel bubble) because those areas had a low number of cases, but now they were in double-digits so discussions were put on hold," Taweesin said, referring to new daily infections. Foreign arrivals plunged 66% in the first six months of the year, to 6.69 million.
The industry has warned that 1.6 trillion baht (US$51.50 billion) of revenue could be wiped out this year.Reviving talks would depend on the situation in each country, which the taskforce was assessing daily, he said, adding that was a widely accepted industry view. The island of Phuket has instead proposed receiving direct flights from those countries, with tourists and business executives doing two-week quarantines in their hotels before going out.
