“I haven’t looked after a single tourist since April 2020.” Like Samran, a driver for twenty-five years, many tuk-tuks have been idle in the streets of Bangkok since the kingdom imposed strict measures on its residents. borders. Despite the resumption of international flights, travelers still had to adhere to a strict fourteen-day quarantine in an approved hotel. What to discourage …
The consequences have been disastrous for the Thai economy. The country has grown from 40 million visitors in 2019 to 73,000 at the start of the year, and Bangkok, the most visited city in the world, is deserted. Three million Thais have lost their jobs, and the losses run into tens of billions of dollars.
The rules have already been relaxed this summer for the island of Phuket, but this has only attracted a few tens of thousands of tourists. A drop of water … So the government is lifting, from November 1, the quarantine for vaccinated travelers from around forty countries considered “at low risk” (China, United States, Australia, France, United Kingdom). United, Germany, etc.). They will have to provide a negative Covid test carried out in the country of origin, do a second one within 24 hours of their arrival, and stay overnight at the hotel.
Indian and Russian tourists still stranded
But the problem may lie in the direction of returns. Anyone leaving China remains subject to a quarantine of at least 14 days upon their return, which is a deterrent. However, the Chinese represent 25% of tourists in Thailand. And travelers from two other countries that represent major markets, India and Russia, are still subject to the strictest conditions.
“Business will pick up again”, hopes Thanansat, who has been selling roast duck for 10 years in Chinatown, a district of Bangkok renowned for its street food. “We are really waiting for the Thai government to lift the ban on alcohol which does not motivate tourists to return,” said Daniel Kerr, manager of the Chatrium Hotel, a five-star hotel with 400 rooms on the banks of the Chao Praya River. The occupancy rate of the establishment collapsed to less than 10% at the worst of the crisis.
A return to normal in 2022?
Even if the trend is on the rise, it is difficult for the director to recruit qualified staff. Many Bangkokians, fallen into long-term unemployment, have returned to the provinces and are reluctant to return without economic certainty. The Bangkok Metropole Administration wants to be reassuring, counting on the good vaccination rate for a return to normal in the summer of 2022. The professionals of the sector rather expect 2024.
What will happen to Samran, our tuk-tuk driver, by then? “I will not survive,” he worries. He is not receiving any help from the government to get through the crisis. “What are they waiting for? That I beg in the streets? That I am starving? “