March Updates to Thailand COVID restrictions – and some good news! Just announced this week – good news for any smug souls who are already vaccinated. Mandatory quarantine (such as Alternative State Quarantine and other iterations, see below) has been reduced from 14 days. Even better? What might – might – be possible in October. Read on, nice people … it’s nearly (maybe) time to dig out your passport.
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- World Nomads’ Coronavirus (COVID-19) travel restrictions in Thailand
- World Nomads’ COVID and travel insurance FAQs
- Thailand’s Department of Disease Control coronavirus updates.
Thailand COVID Restrictions and Travel Updates – March, 2021
Thailand Quarantine Updates
Quarantine Duration
What’s changed?
(A) If you have been vaccinated and have a negative covid test: your mandatory quarantine period will be 7 days rather than 14. Your vaccination must include both doses (if applicable) and you must have received it within three months of your arrival in Thailand.
(B) If you have not been vaccinated but do have a negative covid test: your mandatory quarantine period will be 10 days rather than 14.
In both cases, negative covid tests must have been issued within 72 hours of your departure.
When will the quarantine period be reduced?
These changes to quarantine duration are expected to begin next month (April). At the time of writing, I haven’t seen the booking periods change on any ASQ hotel booking sites (see below for new booking options).
Any exceptions?
Yes. If you’re coming from South Africa (and possibly other African countries), the quarantine period will remain 14 days due to potentially vaccine-resistant virus variants.
What if I’m travelling with kids?
Not sure yet. These details are hot off the press and won’t be put into effect until month next. Will kids – who can’t be vaccinated – be eligible for 7-day quarantine? Or will they be considered “unvaccinated” and therefore need to quarantine for 10 days with a negative covid test? Watch this space for clarification.
ASQ Updates and FAQs
ASQ prices have been dropping and currently start at around THB28,000 per person (US$915). Please see my ASQ post for full details of what’s included in the price and a humanitarian heads-up about a “no alcohol in quarantine” rule.
Q: Can same-sex couples stay together?
A: From what I’ve read, any couple needs a legal marriage certificate in order to share a room during ASQ.
Q: What if my family/spouse are flying to Thailand on a different flight than me?
You have to arrive on the same flight to share a room together. The timing of when ‘Day 0’ starts is pretty strict and therefore your itineraries must match.
ASQ Booking Options
Amazing Thailand Plus
In partnership with THAI Airways: Book your international flight into Thailand and your ASQ hotel in one package.
ASQ Paradise
In partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Currently, search 117 ASQ properties using helpful budget and room size filters. (“Balcony, balcony, balcony”). You can also search by the number of adults and children you’d like to accommodate. Booking through ASQ Paradise includes:
- a 15-day prepaid SIM card with unlimited internet.
- Access to “Plump Booty” 2-week quarantine workouts
- 10-day intensive Thai language courses with a private tutor (additional cost)
ASQ Ascend Travel
In partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). To use, you must register a free account.
On the horizon: The end of quarantine?
Also announced this week: a possible end to quarantine. (Possible! Maybe!) Keep the final quarter of 2021 in mind as a possible quarantine-free new dawn: Hellooo October, November and December.
Thailand’s health minister has suggested this could be considered if Thailand’s domestic vaccination schedule goes to plan. They hope to have 70% of vulnerable populations, health professionals and those working in tourism vaccinated by October.
So plant October, November or December Thailand (quarantine-free) travel in mind as a possibility. (Cue high-pitched shrieking audible only to dolphins).
Travel bubbles? Vaccine passports?
Reciprocal travel with “low-risk” (and highly vaccinated) countries is under consideration as are vaccine passports (both allowing vaccinated Thais to travel and facilitating inbound international travel). Watch! This! Space!
Subscribe to UpdatesNew quarantine options
Until then, yachts, villas and golf courses are new and upcoming options for quarantine options. While ‘Alternative Local State Quarantine’ was floated as an idea last October but never took shape, you’ve now got some options that take you slightly beyond four walls of a hotel room.
Yacht Quarantine – Active
(aka Alternative Yacht Quarantine or AYQ)
If you watched Below Deck Phuket and think you could be good at sea, the yachting life awaits – just add {vast sums of money} and a sort of ankle monitor. “Digital Yacht Quarantine” attaches smartwatches to all quarantine-ees – anchored socially distanced up to 10 kilometres offshore. The watches transmit medical vitals like pulse and temperature to officials back on land but, other than that minor intrusion, you enjoy life on board. After 14 days of #boatlife, you’re allowed to head to dock in Phuket. Beach picnic, Sports Fans?
One minor detail: BYO Yacht. Calling Captain Lee…
Golf Quarantine – Active
Logistics are easier for golf quarantine – no need to supply your own golf course. Unlike ASQ in a hotel room, golf quarantine comes with time outside. Lots of it! After a negative covid test on day 3, you’re allowed to use the resort and play golf. It’s currently available to “low-risk” countries (see below). As with ASQ, further covid tests are administered on days 9 and 13 (arrival day is considered day 0).
Golf quarantine duration? Nothing is published yet regarding golf quarantine duration being reduced as has been announced with ASQ but stay tuned.
Golf quarantine prices? Packages start at THB 111,000 (approx US$3600) and include 15 room nights, 3 daily meals, airport transfer, covid tests and 11 days of unlimited golf. For comparison, the same price would get you a suite at a four-star ASQ hotel in Bangkok. As an avowed non-golfer, I’d take two weeks of “Plump Booty” workouts in Bangkok, how about you?
Golf quarantine options: Six Thai golf resorts are available for golf quarantine – five near (or near-ish) to Bangkok and one outside Chiang Mai.
- Nakhon Nayok – Artitaya Golf & Resort (1 hour from BKK)
- Phetchaburi – Sawang Resort and Golf Club (1h45 from BKK)
- Kanchanaburi – Evergreen Hills Golf Club & Resort (2h20 from BKK)
- Kanchanaburi – Mida Golf Club Kanchanaburi (2h40 from BKK)
- Kanchanaburi – Blue Star Golf Course (2h50 from BKK)
- Lamphun – Artitaya Chiang Mai Golf Resort (45min from Chiang Mai)
To book, please see Golf Quarantine Thailand.
Countries eligible for golf quarantine
As of March 1, golf quarantine is to people coming from “low-risk” countries which include
- Australia
- Canada
- China
- Denmark
- Hong Kong
- Iceland
- Japan
- Korea
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Singapore
- Taiwan
- (see full list)
Area Quarantine (including Villa Quarantine) – April/May
THIS is the quarantine question many of you have been emailing me about.
Can you quarantine on Koh Samui? Or anywhere with a beach?
After ‘Alternative Local State Quarantine’ (ALSQ or ALQ) was suggested for major tourist destinations – but never initiated on Koh Samui (and largely scrapped on Phuket) – Area Quarantine (AQ) has emerged as its second iteration. It’s yet not finalised, but here’s what’s known so far.
Five popular tourist regions will be used for area quarantine:
- Phuket
- Krabi
- Surat Thani (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao)
- Chiang Mai
- Chon Buri (Pattaya)
As with golf quarantine, certain resorts will be certified as Area Quarantine options. (Likely fairly high-end resorts). You’ll be required to spend the first three days in your room and, following a negative covid test, will have use of some resort facilities for the remainder of the quarantine period. As mentioned this is currently 15 days but is set to be reduced to either 7 or 10 days depending on your vaccination status.
More details to follow with the plan set to begin in April… or May. As with so much future-forecasting about covid, sources vary. So, once again, stay tuned. Phuket is likely to be the first destination to be up and running.
As that means another six or more months before Koh Samui and other islands see any volume of tourists returning, please consider helping out a very struggling economy in any way that you can. I myself am running a “Dr Pouchy” travel pouch fundraiser, and there are many other ways to support a variety of charitable causes in both cash and kind.
A trial run of “villa quarantine” has begun at Phuket’s Sri Panwa resort – an early hint that Area Quarantine categorically will not suck. After 5 days’ in-room quarantine, guests were allowed to use resort dining and fitness facilities and access the beach within a designated “red zone”. Quarantine guests and “red zone” staff remain in a bubble separate from the rest of the resort.
Subscribe to UpdatesVaccine Updates
The general Thai population will start registering for, and receiving vaccinations in May and June respectively when the bulk of its AstraZeneca supplies will arrive. Vaccinations to date have used Sinovac, prioritising health care professionals, elderly/vulnerable populations and – recently – tourism workers in key markets. These will be Phuket, Surat Thani, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai and Krabi – locations of the proposed Area Quarantine. Johnson & Johnson is in the process of approval.
Flights and Air Travel Updates
As of this week, international transit is now possible at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), with strict covid measures and separation from “gen pop”.
Domestic flights within Thailand have resumed serving food and drinks.
Bangkok Airways’s lounges are open at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Samui, Sukhothai and Trat airports.
Useful Resources
- How to help? 9 Easy Ways to Help Koh Samui Through COVID-19
- Book Now/Stay Later: How to Save Up to 64% on Bangkok and Koh Samui Hotels
- Bookmark: All Thailand COVID Updates – Visas, Vaccines and your FAQs
- Where to stay? The 70 Best Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) Hotels in Thailand
- Visas: What to Know About Thailand’s Special Tourist Visa
Resources and Futher Reading
- 4 Top Tourist Destinations to Be Prioritised for Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution
- 59 Foreign Tourists Arrive in Phuket, First to Undergo the Luxurious “Villa Quarantine”
- Astrazeneca Rollout Confirmed for Thursday, with PM First in Line
- Cabinet Approves Budget of over 6.3 Billion Baht for 35 Million More Vaccine Doses
- Covid-19 Vaccine Registration to Begin in May
- Economic Think-tank Says the Future of Tourism in Thailand Hangs on Vaccination
- First Golf Quarantine Guests Complete Stay at Central Thailand Resort
- Foreign Tourists Must Use Covid-19 Tracking App When Travelling to Thailand
- Inside a Luxury Thailand ‘Golf Quarantine’
- International Travellers Allowed to Transit Thailand from Monday
- Koh Samui to Start Covid-19 Vaccinations Early next Month
- Phuket Launches Thailand’s First ‘Digital Yacht Quarantine’ Project
- Possibility of Reopening Thailand on Oct 1 to Be Considered
- Quarantine for Vaccinated Travellers to Thailand Reduced to 7 Days
- Samui-Phangan-Tao Offers Discounts to Tourists until 30 April 2021
- Slow Return of Foreign Tourism Makes More Redundancies Inevitable
- Status of Interprovincial Travel as of 1 March 2021
- Thai Covid ‘Passports’ Coming next Month for the Vaccinated
- Thailand Considering Vaccine Passport Policy in Bid to Revive International Tourism
- Thailand Successfully Completes First Villa Quarantine Pilot Project
- Thailand Successfully Hosts First Golf Quarantine
- Thailand to Ease Quarantine Rules for Some Arrivals
- Thailand to Introduce ‘Area Quarantine’ for International Visitors from April
- Thailand to Issue Vaccine Certificate to Everyone Who Gets 2 Doses of Covid Jab
- Thailand to Launch ‘Area Quarantine’ for Foreign Tourists next Month
- Thailand to Reduce Quarantine Period for Vaccinated Travellers
- Thailand’s Covid-19 Task Force Says Tourism-dependent Areas Will Be High Priority for Vaccination
- The Area Hotel Quarantine Tweaking Thailand’s Arrival Options
- Transit Travel Bubble at Suvarnabhumi Airport
- Vaccine Rollout Underway in Phuket as Province Receives 4,000 Doses
- What Is Golf Quarantine?
- What to Expect at ASQ Hotels in Thailand
