Travelers arriving in droves at Bangkok airport as pre-flight RT-PCR test not needed

Since the requirement for pre-flight RT-PCR test to detect Covid-19 was lifted, the number of international arrivals at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport has increased significantly.

From Friday to Monday (April 4), Thailand's main gateway airport had an average of 11,623 visitors from overseas locations, up 66 percent from the average of 7,003 tourists each day in March, reports Bangkok post.

Kittipong Kittikachorn, the airport's general manager, attributed the rise to the government's decision on April 1, to remove pre-travel RT-PCR tests for visitors traveling under the Test & Go, Sandbox, and quarantine schemes, said the report.

Kittipong predicted that the numbers will continue to rise as more travel restrictions are removed, resulting in more flights landing at Suvarnabhumi.

This month, the airport handled an average of 141 inbound planes per day, compared to 137 landings previous month.

Shares in Airports of Thailand Plc, which operates Suvarnabhumi and five other international airports, saw its stock rise one baht, or 1.5 percent, to 67.50 baht on Tuesday.

The government's move to discontinue pre-travel tests is aimed at drawing in more tourists to Thailand in order to assist the country's tourism sector recover from the Covid disaster, added the report.

On March 30, the Bank of Thailand's latest tourism outlook remained unchanged.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the central bank maintained its forecast of 5.6 million foreign tourists this year, citing an expected improvement in the country's Omicron variant condition and the limited impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the Thai tourism sector, the report concluded.