March 15: Visiting Thailand will now be more comfortable for you as you can now opt for the mandatory 2-weeks Covid-19 quarantine on a yacht! Recently, Thailand has allowed the option for the visitors as they hope to bring the available 1.8 million baht in the yacht tourism revenue with the help of this initiative.
According to the reports, the citizens who wish to avail this opportunity would require to provide a negative PCR test along with the location and health monitored. Originally, the pilot scheme was announced in November and now it is expected that around 100 yachts will be a part of this program that is currently taking place in Phuket.
Once the tourists complete their 14-day quarantine period successfully, they would be allowed to return to the dock in Phuket and finally enter the island. As per record, Phuket lost more than 320 billion baht (Thailand currency) in its revenue amid the pandemic.
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This move by the Thai government expects to generate as much as 1.8 billion baht in its revenue as the country is gradually opening its borders since October.
The visitors who choose this option will be asked to wear a smart wristwatch that will monitor the vital signs of the wearer like blood pressure, temperature and location as well. Furthermore, as claimed in the reports, the watch will transmit the information at sea within a radius of 10 km.
The program is in progress with a mobile operator Advanced Info Service that is a local tech start-up and tourism operators in Phuket. The Digital Economy Promotion Agency is working on this unique program. The tracking and monitoring of the boats will be done by the Royal Thai Navy members.
