National –
Suvarnabhumi International Airport has welcomed more than 10,000 travelers per day after the mandatory RT-PCR test before entering Thailand was canceled since April 1st.
Kittipong Kittikachorn, General Manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, revealed today, April 6th, that after the Thai government eased preventive measures for international arrival on April 1st, the average number of visitors in Thailand had reached 11,623 people per day which increased by 65.97 percent from March where the number was only at 7,003 visitors per day.
TPN notes, however, that this is a far cry from pre-covid numbers of tourism arrivals which often saw up to roughly 200,000 people on the busier days of Songkran in 2019! In 2019, the Phuket Airport was averaging about 65,400 people a day during Songkran. That number is now just above 2,000. Tourist associations and business owners say that a significant reason for still low arrivals is that Test and Go and Thailand Pass remain huge obstacles for many travelers, especially concerns of testing positive on arrival and being sent to quarantine. Organizations have been pushing across Thailand for months for the Thai Government to completely remove the programs, but Thailand’s Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, has denied these requests so far, saying they plan to do so by June or July if the situation improves, without a firm “set in stone” guarantee.
The average number of international inbound flights also increased to 141 flights per day from 137 in March, accountable for a 2.92 percent increase. The airport GM also said that the number of international travelers entering Thailand would continue to increase.
In general, the average number of passengers, including both domestic and international, who had traveled through the Suvarnabhumi International Airport since the beginning of April was 53,627 per day, increasing by 27.01 percent from March. Of which, 29,691 were international passengers and 23,936 were domestic travelers.
GM Kittipong stated that the Suvarnabhumi Airport was aware of being the country’s main airport in welcoming and serving both domestic and international passengers with fast and efficient services, so it would continue to comply with the government preventive measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 Coronavirus.
“In order to maintain the standard and follow public health measures, the airport had adjusted the service model to be in line with the New Normal Travel and the COVID-Free Setting,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CCSA continues to say they will proceed with a four-month plan to treat Covid-19 as endemic while tourism and business leaders continue to push for immediate removal of unpopular and complex programs like Thailand Pass and Test and Go, especially on arrival testing.
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