Thai tourism authority confirms Macau travelers to face quarantine

Flight crew wear protective masks as they arrive at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok

After last week’s conflicting statements from Thai health authorities on the need for people arriving in Thailand from nine countries and two regions to undergo a 14-day quarantine period, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has now released a new statement reaffirming the need for such restrictions, and contradicting the clarification made last Friday by the health ministry.

In the new statement from the TAT, the Thai government says that the country “has now enhanced precaution and prevention measures for Covid-19,” explaining that “all travelers are asked to fill in the public health declaration form and those traveling from the People’s Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions), Republic of Korea, Republic of Italy, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will undergo 14 days [of] quarantine when they enter the kingdom.”

Details about the quarantine procedure will be revealed in an announcement to be published shortly.

Travel to Thailand has already slumped, but the overall stance is set to further deter tourists from the six territories while the measures are in place.

Other countries have imposed restrictions on people coming from China, the epicenter of the outbreak, but few are as reliant on Chinese tourists as Thailand. They spent more than $17 billion in the Southeast Asian nation last year, over a quarter of all foreign-tourism receipts, and the industry as a whole accounts for about a fifth of the economy.

On Friday the Thai health ministry said that while a two-week self-quarantine period was not compulsory, it was recommended, contradicting comments made the day before. Public Health Ministry spokesman Rungrueng Kiphati told Reuters that “people arriving from those six places [South Korea, China, Macau, Hong Kong, Italy, and Iran] would be fined 20,000 baht if they did not self-quarantine for 14 days at home or in a hotel room, where they have to report themselves to the authorities every day or officials will come to check on them.”

The new statement adds to the confusion over whether the government is ordering or recommending travelers quarantine for 14 days.

In comments to several media outlets, Thailand government officials have rushed to clarify that the first statement from Public Health Ministry spokesman contained a “mistake” since laws in Thailand do not allow for forced quarantine, or establish penalties for non-Thai nationals.

Tanarak Plipat, deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control, told the media that the health ministry was preparing regulations requiring all arrivals from the six regions to report their health condition daily, noting that the unpublished new rules include a fine (potentially up to 20,000 baht) for those that fail to comply or issue false reports about their condition.

The new warning by TAT has sparked controversy and conversation, especially on the TAT HK Facebook page, with dozens of Hong Kong citizens grilling Thai authorities about the measures.