Although the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has approved both the reopening of 10 types of business, and the reopening of various places in Thailand to foreign tourists beginning October 1st, bars and clubs in Thailand will still remain closed.
Unfortunately for Thailand, for foreign tourists looking for a country to vacation in over the next couple of months, one without bars and clubs is not a country most will head to.
Not when countries in Europe and North and South America are open to foreign tourists, and offer thousands of bars and clubs where they can go to relax.
Strangely, the CCSA still believes a country where entertainment venues, bars and clubs are closed is appealing to foreign tourists. The low number of tourists arriving in the Phuket Sandbox over the last few months has proven them wrong.
Some businesses will be allowed to reopen on October 1st, however. Most of them having been closed for several months due to Thailand’s excessive Covid-19 restrictions.
These currently are:
Spas, manicure salons and massage parlors
Movie theaters
Gyms and sports venues
Museums and historical sites
Tattoo parlors
Pre-schools
Libraries
Learning centres, science and cultural centres, art centres
Live music will also be allowed in restaurants, although the serving of alcohol will still be banned.
Curfew hours in Thailand shortened beginning October 1st
Thailand’s curfew hours will also be amended — slightly — with the current curfew of 9pm to 4am now being shortened to 10pm to 4am.
Again, any type of curfew is not something most foreign tourists will be interested in experiencing.
Today, Thailand also reported 10,288 more new Covid-19 infections.
With Thailand still on the ‘red list‘ or ‘high-risk’ list for many countries, tourists from those countries will still not be able to visit until case numbers begin to drastically fall.
In other words, while allowing a large number of businesses to reopen on Friday is welcomed by Thais and the small number of foreign tourists currently in the country, bars and clubs closed in Thailand, curfews, mandatory masks, mandatory vaccines, mandatory Covid insurance, and a whole host of other too-strict requirements, as well as high Covid-19 cases, will still mean most foreign tourists will choose to vacation elsewhere.