Thailand offers quarantine at five-star resorts or onboard super yachts in bid to attract tourists

The government hopes the programme will get Thai tourism back on track.
The government hopes the programme will get Thai tourism back on track. Photo credit: Getty

Tourism authorities in Thailand have come up with a way to not only comply with compulsory quarantine rules for inbound travellers, but do it in a way that makes the idea of visiting during the COVID-19 pandemic appealing.

Visitors to Thailand are now able to spend their mandatory two-week coronavirus quarantine on a super yacht.

The Thai government says the programme could bring in as much as NZ$88 million.

It follows recent announcements from the government that would allow visitors to quarantine at golf courses and five-star resorts.

In the popular tourist destination of Phuket, the number of tourists has dropped from around 50,000 a day to less than 1000.

Travellers who choose to quarantine on a yacht must wear special wristbands that monitor their temperature as well as tracking them via GPS. The smartwatch can transmit this data as far as 10km.

Thailand's tourism revenue dropped from NZ$2.6 trillion in 2019 to NZ$13.94 billion in 2020.