Thailand is unlikely to reopen its borders to international tourists before the end of the year – the prediction from a deputy governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

This is devastating news to Raya and all other travel industry players. We will be monitoring the situation but re-opening our Thailand operations in 2020 does not currently seem very likely. However, things tend to change fast in Thailand so we are following the situation closely.

The deputy governor for international marketing at TAT, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, noted that there has been “no talk of a timeline issued for reopening the country to inbound or outbound leisure travel during weekly Covid-19 national meetings”.

He said Thai government has a “very, very cautious” approach to reopening borders and said he doesn’t expect Thailand to welcome tourists until at least 2021.

“I see no signal from the government that the country will open this year. That’s putting lot of pressure on the tourism industry. The Christmas period, usually the high season, is in jeopardy and I’m looking horribly even to Chinese New Year in February, which is an iffy proposition at best now. Unfortunately, this is not a rosy picture.”