Thailand has revealed its roadmap for living with COVID, with plans to treat the disease as endemic from July 2022.
For international visitors, this means the scaling back and eventual elimination of COVID-19 testing, as well as the possible scrapping of the travel insurance requirement and need to apply for a Thailand Pass.
The next stage of the roadmap is set to take place in “April to May”, and will see a significantly improved arrivals experience; namely, replacing the on-arrival PCR test (and isolation) with a simple ART (called ATK in Thailand).
Thailand to replace on-arrival PCR tests by May?
Under the current Test & Go programme, international visitors to Thailand are required to take 2x PCR tests and an ART.
- Within 72 hours of departure to Thailand (PCR)
- On arrival in Thailand [and isolate until negative result received] (PCR)
- On Day 5 (self-administered ART)
This is already a significant improvement over the previous scheme, mind you, where travellers had to take a PCR test on Day 5 and enter isolation again until a negative result was received!
Still, it does involve isolation on arrival, meaning wasted vacation time. I got lucky on my recent visit to Bangkok when I received a negative result in 3 hours, but other data points I’ve seen have been up to 24 hours.
Fortunately, the next phase in Thailand’s roadmap (set to happen in April or May) will see the on-arrival PCR test replaced with an ART at the airport, meaning that visitors will have freedom of movement from the time they land (well, provided they test negative!).
From then on, here’s how the roadmap evolves:
| Vaccinated | Unvaccinated | |
| Phase 1 (March 12 to early April) | PCR on arrival ART on Day 5 |
10-day quarantine |
| Phase 2 (April to May) | ART on arrival ART on Day 5 |
5-day quarantine |
| Phase 3 (end May to June) | None | ART on arrival |
| Phase 4 (from 1 July) | None | None |
| No details have been provided on whether pre-departure testing will remain, but I’d assume it would be eliminated too by Phase 4 | ||
The plan is to remove all testing for vaccinated arrivals by June, and then for all arrivals by July.
Now, all this depends on how the COVID situation evolves, as well as hitting certain milestones such as booster jab uptake, positive testing rate on arrival, and death rate.
Still, having a roadmap with concrete metrics and proposed dates is better than having none (ahem ahem MMTF), and this raises the hope that by the second half of 2022, travel to Thailand may be no different from pre-pandemic days.
Thailand Pass, insurance requirement to be scrapped?
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| Thailand Pass |
Other possible changes that are being mooted include the removal of the travel insurance requirement (currently US$20,000) and scrapping the much-maligned Thailand Pass, which has been beset with phishing scams and security leaks since day one (there’s an excellent piece by The Thaiger about the troubled scheme).
Eliminating the need to apply for a Thailand Pass would dramatically simplify the travel process. Even though applications aren’t rocket science, they still require a good amount of time and documentation- not to mention the portal is notoriously finicky, requiring you to convert all your PDFs into image files and not having a “save and resume later” function!
Test & Go programme
Here’s a recap of the current requirements for Thailand’s (mostly) quarantine-free Test & Go scheme, which took effect from 1 March 2022.
| ๐น๐ญ Thailand Test & Go Requirements |
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Bangkok Trip Report
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| โป๏ธ Test & Go & Come Back & Test & Go Again |
I recently travelled to Bangkok to check out the Test & Go process, and although there’s a lot of hassle in the pre-departure phase (especially with the Thailand Pass application), once you reach Bangkok things move surprisingly smooth.
Do note my trip took place when the Day 5 PCR test requirement was still in force- this has since been scaled back to a self-administered ART. That said, the rest of the information is current, including pre-departure testing options when returning to Singapore.
Conclusion
Tourism constituted up to 20% of Thailand’s annual GDP before COVID-19, yet the government has been very cautious about reopening compared to other leisure hotspots like the Maldives (which reopened in July 2020!).
This roadmap represents the clearest indication yet of a timeline for returning to pre-COVID rules, which will be good news for those wanting to visit Thailand but deterred by all the additional red tape.
While 1 July has been proffered as a sort of “D-Day”, it’s important to remember that everything is subject to change- so don’t make non-refundable plans until things are confirmed.
The next CCSA meeting takes place on 18 March, where a further relaxation of travel rules may be proposed.
Hope for just ART on D1 for arrival into Bangkok in early Apr.
Stop with the need to have an insurance for covering at least us$ 20.000. All the travelinsurance from Holland covers hospalization for 100 %. So no need to mentioned the us$ 20.000 because the Dutch insurance refuse to mention the amount of money in your travel health insurance
Yes, good to have a roadmap, thanks. On the other hand I’ve just departed Thailand after a month, my entry made possible by Test & Go and the Thai Pass. The application process went smoothly and I was aided in successfully applying by a very responsible company in submitting documents. I found cheap Covid insurance. No complaints about the process or the responsible protection here the Thai government has put in place in the middle of a pandemic. The inconveniences are justified!! Administration on arrival was well done, well managed. Save the 2nd PCR on day 5 which has been… Read more »
Absolute tripe. Did you realise your C19 insurance is absolutely useless if you tested positive and are asymptomatic/not needing treatment? Very few or no companies, Thai or foreign, will pay up. Some were being shipped off to hospital/hospitels after testing positive even if appearung perfectly healthy. Stats I read said around 2% arrivals were testing positive. You should count yourself lucky you weren’t one of these people. The day 5 test was ridiculous and given the rapid pickup time for Omicron, someone testing negative on arrival and positive on day 5 almost certainly caught it in Thailand. Its widespread here… Read more »
Make you 100% right. I’m in phuket right now & it’s empty of tourists. The pcr test is turning out to be so inaccurate that England is now saying it might give a positive result if you just have a cold. It’s all about money making,someone is getting very rich off the back of this testing scam.
Fools like you are why there are still so many barriers to travel still in place in Asia. What a scourge you people are
You do realise that if they scrapped all entry requirements your entry would also be โmade possibleโ yet none of the hoops you had to jump through would have been needed right?
I agree with Joel, people like you are a scourge on this region and donโt deserve to travel.
Thailand will have to cope with russians no more holidaying there, so better to eliminate all requirements for fully vaxx.
One thing i never see mentioned anywhere is about Transit in Airport. How does requirements changed forcthat purpose only?
I’ve been in Thailand during Feb, did both PCR tests on Day1 + Day5 on T&Go scheme. I’m in Philippines now. By May need to go back to Bkk for my return flight to Europe – knowing nothing about transit in Suvarnabhumi…
I have read many places that being vaccinated does not stop transmission at all. The jabs are “to reduce severity of disease.”
(I have also read that one jab, and having covid in the past is the best protection).
In other words, the vaccines protect the individual from becoming severely ill.
Please help me understand… Why is being vaccinated still a requirement to travel?
Your assertion is wrong. Studies show they do reduce transmission, to what extent that is varied but some showed quite a substantial reduction.
I don’t want unvaccinated people sitting near me on flights, not because I’m afraid of getting c19 but it would increase risk of testing positive on arrival.
As for mass vaccination programs, the served their purpose by keeping people out of hospitalsm. Have u seen what’s been going on in Hong Kong recently? Their zero covid policy backfired. Unvaxxed or low people clogging up hospitals. Foreign countries don’t want to admit more of these people.
Wow, a country with an actual roadmap with dates and everything! Certainly a lot more impressive than the “wait and see” tyre fire that is Singapore.