Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister  Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said his ministry plans to implement travel bubbles this year along borders such as Trat province and Cambodia’s Koh Kong province.

Giving vaccination against COVID-19 to people in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: Xinhua/ VNA)

The Khmer Times on October 8 quoted Thai media as reporting that a total of 15 million international tourists are predicted to visit Thailand in 2022, generating around 600 billion THB (17.7 billion USD), while domestic arrivals are expected to reach 160 million, generating a total of 882 billion THB.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said it had already proceeded with the plan to increase flight capacity to 100 percent by October 15, and is waiting for approval from the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration.

Meanwhile, from the end of September, the Cambodian government proposed the “Safe Cambodia” campaign as part of strategies to attract domestic and foreign tourists to the country, thus reviving its tourism industry.

According to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia will be a safe destination for everyone as soon as it reopens to tourists thanks to its government's best efforts to vaccinate nearly all of the country's population against COVID-19.

As of October 8, over 11 million people out of the country's 16 million population had received two shots of vaccine and more than 900,000 got the booster shot.

Cambodia plans to reopen to tourists, who have been vaccinated with full two shots of COVID-19 vaccines, in the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia, in the first seven months of this year, an additional 527 Cambodian travel businesses were forced to stop operation due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the end of July, the number of visitors entering Cambodia's three international airports decreased by more than 93 percent year-on-year.

Source: VNA