Thailand opens doors to Indian tourists in special bubble scheme
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the launch of a Thailand-India air-travel bubble arrangement in a bid to boost tourism between the two countries.
The Transport Ministry’s proposal to resume commercial flights to and from India was also approved. Commercial flights between the two countries have been suspended since March 23, 2020, after the arrival of Covid-19.
The proposal to resume flights under a travel bubble scheme was approved by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on February 11.
According to the arrangement, commercial flights between the two countries will be allowed to fly passengers of Thai, Indian, Nepal and Bhutan nationalities as well as other nationalities that have visas to enter both Thailand and India.
However, airlines are required to ensure passengers meet all requirements in line with the two countries’ measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The air travel bubble scheme is expected to kick off this month.
As per figures released by the Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry, some 1.9 million Indian tourists visited Thailand in 2019, marking a 25 per cent increase compared to 2018.
On average, Indian tourists spend seven days and approximately 45,000 baht in Thailand.
