Dhaka: Thailand is going to shorten its mandatory quarantine period for international visitors from two weeks to 10 days, effective April 1.

The kingdom is also eyeing to cease quarantine altogether from October 1. However, there are still some uncertainties in this regard as government authorities have deferred a decision in recognizing vaccine certificates.

Even a decision on an isolation period of seven days for vaccinated tourists has been postponed.

Officials of the battered tourism industry are seeing this move as a step towards reopening with the hope that the shorter quarantine would make Thailand more appealing to foreign travellers.

Before the pandemic, the tourism industry of Thailand provided over USD 60 billion in receipts from some 40 million international visitors. This shows how reliant the country was on tourism before the coronavirus spread devasted the entire global tourism industry.

Latest news: Countrywide strict lockdown for seven days from June 28