The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
Foreign tourist arrivals into Thailand plunged to the lowest level in at least 12 years after the country closed its borders
to contain the coronavirus
outbreak, with a resurgence in infections now undermining efforts to reopen the industry. Tourist arrivals slumped to
6.7 million in 2020 from 39.9 million a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports showed on Monday. That’s the lowest number of visitors since at least 2008, according to ministry data. Arrivals in December totalled 6,556, compared with 3.95 million during the same period a year earlier.
A new wave of Covid-19
infections and a mandatory
two-week quarantine are discouraging visitors, threatening a recovery in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy that’s already devastated by the pandemic hit to its exports and tourism earnings.
Thailand may fully reopen the country to international travelers after rolling out vaccines.