Although both Thai and British government sources express confidence in the future of international travel and tourism, the wannabe visitor to the Land of Smiles must provide a veritable avalanche of documentation and endure restrictive delays in both countries.
The UK authorities have declared overseas leisure travel to be “illegal” until further notice, with mid-May as the earliest possible relief date. Potential travellers must show at UK departure points a completed form why the journey is absolutely necessary for health, work, study or compassionate reasons. They are advised to carry some documentary evidence, usually an official letter, to justify breaking the travel lockdown.
Brits then returning to UK after their vital journey must complete a passenger locator form, show proof of a recent negative Covid-19 check and self-isolate for a further 10 days with two supplementary coronavirus tests. Those returning from some countries in Latin America and Africa must separately undergo supervised quarantine at their own expense.
Meanwhile, Brits booking overseas holidays for the summer are being warned that cancelled trips may not easily result in quick insurance refunds. The Association of British Travel Agents told BBC news that package tourists would be covered but would most likely experience delays in the payout schedule.
Airlines UK has warned potential travellers that vouchers offering alternative flights would be the preferred method of compensation. Those customers paying by credit card appear to be better safeguarded than those using a debit version, but the subject is tinged with ambiguity with frequent complaints to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Nobody in UK can travel to Thailand without the express permission of the London-based Thai embassy which issues a certificate of entry. The embassy website is comprehensive as it wades through the complex requirements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All potential visitors need recent Covid tests and Covid-related insurance and must pay in advance for the 14-days hotel quarantine after landing.
But the detail varies according to the specific visa applied for. Some categories require general medical insurance in addition to a Covid policy and some do not. Some require proof of address in Thailand post-quarantine but not all. Some require proof of substantial cash in UK bank accounts, others a regular income, still others only a token amount. What is incontrovertible is the sheer stack of paperwork required. Not to mention the considerable expense involved for the applicant.
Thai authorities now also require foreign visitors to download and install on their mobile phones pre-departure the Thailand Plus app. This is a contact tracing device which uses GPS and Bluetooth data to detect user locations, combined with check-in records via QR code-scanning. The health ministry in Bangkok says the app minimizes the possibility of the user being personally identified.
Meanwhile, the Thai government is expected in May or June to begin signing vaccine passport deals with other countries which have low-incidence of the dread disease and have begun vaccination programs of their own. As ever the details are hazy, but the most likely candidates for early recognition are China and other selected Asian countries. So far, about 50,000 people have been vaccinated in Thailand under the Mor Phrom (The Doctor is Ready) scheme.
How quickly the huge bureaucracies now in place to vet and monitor all British visitors to Thailand are dismantled remains to be seen. Much will undoubtedly depend on how quickly vaccination rollouts proceed in both countries and how effective they are against new variants which obstinately keep appearing in the global context. In other words, the pesky virus will determine the future of international travel. Thailand is certainly no exception.
