Coronavirus: second group of Chinese tourists set to fly to Thailand on Monday

About 100 people will take-off from Guangzhou bound for Bangkok under Thailand’s special tourist visa scheme

Visitors can stay for up to nine months under new arrangement, but must first complete 14 days of quarantine and undergo regular checks for Covid-19

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Thailand is cautiously reopening to Chinese tourists under a special visa arrangement. Photo: AP

Published: 12:25pm, 25 Oct 2020Updated: 10:28pm, 25 Oct 2020

A second group of Chinese tourists are expected to leave Guangzhou for Bangkok on Monday under a new visa arrangement introduced by Thailand to help revive its tourism industry, which has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the group will be travelling under the special tourist visa (STV) scheme that was introduced by Bangkok after an earlier plan to allow people to visit only designated destinations like Phuket or Koh Samui was scrapped for fear of infection risks.

According to a report by CCTV, China’s state broadcaster, about 100 tourists will fly to Bangkok on Monday, where, like the group of 41 Chinese who arrived on Wednesday, they will be quarantined at hotels for 14 days.

During their stay in Thailand, they must take multiple Covid-19 tests and have special travel insurance. They must also download a contact tracing app allowing the authorities to keep tabs of their whereabouts.

Unlike ordinary tourist visas, the STV allows visitors to stay in Thailand for up to nine months.

The visits come as China’s tourism authorities expressed caution at relaxing controls on outbound tours, stressing the importance of preventing the cross-border spread of the coronavirus. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently said it would be extending its ban on outbound international group tours.