Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha is confident that national parks can prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission and Vietnam can do ‘travel bubble’ with Thailand.
Mr Sathit said that national parks were ready to welcome tourists from July 1 and that included the Khao Laem Ya-Mu Koh Samet national park in Rayong.
Koh Samet islands were a major tourist destination and proved to comply well with disease control measures, he said. Visitors passed body temperature checks and used the Thaichana application for check-ins and checkouts. Music performances were still banned at local restaurants and beaches were closed at 6pm, the deputy health minister said.
The numbers of visitors are limited at 2,700 at a time on Koh Samet and at 1,700 on Khao Laem Ya Mountain to prevent crowding. The limitations could be relaxed in the future, Mr Sathit said.
On the ‘travel bubble’ idea for countries that well control COVID-19 to mutually welcome visitors, he said that Vietnam could do the travel bubble with Thailand because its COVID-19 cases were smaller than those in Thailand and it had been free of new cases longer than Thailand. (TNA)