Thailand to introduce vaccination requirement for all travellers

Back in October 2022, Thailand ended its so-called COVID-19 Emergency Decree, which reclassified COVID-19 from “a dangerous communicable disease” to “a communicable disease under surveillance”. What this meant, in practical terms, was the cessation of the requirement for international travellers to show proof of vaccination or a negative ART result. 

But now, unfortunately, it looks like we’re moving back in the other direction. Thailand is set to introduce a vaccination requirement imminently, together with mandatory travel insurance for selected travellers. 

While China has not been mentioned explicitly, the timing and couching of the language make it hard not to draw the link. Thailand has always been a popular destination for China tourists, and five million Chinese tourists are expected to arrive in 2023. With numerous countries imposing pre-departure test requirements for Chinese travellers ahead of the country’s reopening, this is likely Thailand’s attempt to enforce public health measures without rubbing anyone the wrong way. 

Thailand to introduce vaccination requirement

According to the Bangkok Post, all visitors to Thailand will be required to present proof of at least two COVID-19 vaccinations (or one, in the case of single dose regimes). The date of implementation has yet to be confirmed. 

As a reminder, Thailand recognises the following vaccinations:

Based on historical precedent, we’re likely to see the following rules:

• Vaccination required for all travellers 18 and above
• Travellers aged 5-17 travelling to Thailand unaccompanied require at least one dose of an approved vaccine
• Travellers aged 5-17 travelling to Thailand with parents are exempt from the vaccination requirement
• Travellers aged 4 and below are exempt regardless

There was previously an option for unvaccinated travellers to take a pre-departure test instead, but it’s unclear at the moment whether that will be the case now. 

It should be mentioned that not everyone is fully convinced this will actually happen. The ever-reliable Richard Barrow has this to say. 

Update: Some initial details have been released.

Travel insurance required for certain travellers

In addition to vaccination certificates, Thailand will also require mandatory travel insurance for certain travellers.

However, this requirement is much more nebulous. Authorities say that travel insurance will be required for anyone travelling onwards from Thailand to a country that requires a negative PCR test. The rationale given is to ensure they can meet the costs of treatment if their test in Thailand is positive. 

It’s difficult not to see this as another way of saying “travel insurance is required for Chinese tourists”, because China is the only major country with a blanket requirement for a negative PCR test result (yes, other countries require PCR test results too, but only for travellers from China). Therefore, any traveller heading from Thailand to China would need travel insurance to get into Thailand in the first place. 

I suppose in theory it could apply in other scenarios as well. India, you’ll remember, requires a negative PCR test result for travellers who have spent the past 14 days in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Therefore, if you planned to travel from Singapore to Thailand, spend a few days there, then travel onwards to India, you’d technically need to buy travel insurance to enter Thailand.

It’s just confusing how all this will work in practice, unless all passengers are required to declare onward travel plans. 

What about the Thailand Pass?

Thailand’s much-hated Thailand Pass regime was scrapped on 1 July 2022, to the relief of everyone. This was the culmination of months of COVID-related relaxations, which also saw pre-departure testing, on-arrival testing and mandatory travel insurance scrapped.

With the reintroduction of vaccination requirements, some have asked whether the Thailand Pass will be making a comeback. I find that hard to see, quite frankly. The scheme was highly unpopular amongst Thailand’s tourism industry, for understandable reasons, and the pushback will be immense.

Moreover, there are easier ways to verify vaccination status without the Thailand Pass- get passengers to show it at check-in, and again at immigration on arrival. For what it’s worth, that was exactly the procedure from 1 July to 30 September 2022, the period where the Thailand Pass had been scrapped but the vaccination requirement still in place. 

Conclusion

Thailand will soon require all international arrivals to be vaccinated, though it’s unclear whether they will have a testing alternative for unvaccinated individuals like before. In any case, this should not pose an issue for most of us in Singapore, what with our high vaccination rate. 

What’s more confusing is the travel insurance requirement. It seems like this won’t apply to the majority of arrivals (though needless to say it’s a good idea to buy insurance regardless!), but we’ll need to wait for the full details to be released. 

Consider it business-as-usual for vaccinated Singapore travellers, until further notice.