Tourism minister seeks ways to help 7,000 stranded Russian, Ukrainian tourists

Russian credit cards have been blocked by Visa and Mastercard as part of international sanctions for Moscow’s invasion, while flights to Ukraine are suspended as war rages in the country.

Pipat said he would also consult the Foreign Ministry to find out what the Thai government could do to help the stranded tourists until the situation in their countries improves.

He added that his ministry would ask hotels whether the tourists can delay paying their bills.

“If the tourists cannot delay payments to their hotels, we may have to find shelters for these tourists to stay until the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends,” Pipat said.

He said his ministry will conduct a survey to find out how many tourists are stranded so a budget for their care could be estimated.

“From what I know, most tourists from Russia and Ukraine are staying in Chonburi’s Pattaya, Surat Thani’s Koh Samui, Phuket and Krabi,” Pipat said.

“We’ll also survey how many are stranded in Bangkok. We have to know their numbers before we can plan measures to help them and how much budget we will need.”

Pipat said the tourists have medical insurance for Covid-19 under the Thailand Plus and Test & Go schemes, but he is worried because this does not cover general health treatment. As such, his ministry will cooperate with the Public Health Ministry on how to help tourists with general health problems, he added.