The number of “sandbox” destinations will grow. The idea is simple: fully vaccinated tourists can stay quarantine-free in one part of a country for 14 days, and can then venture further afield
may have declined by as much as 8.4% in 2020 as a result of reduced tourism. Some countries have been particularly hard-hit. Tourism makes up 20% of Thailand’sIn 2021, fearing that many businesses that scraped through the pandemic’s first year would collapse in the second, Thailand started to experiment with the concept of a “sandbox”. The idea is simple: allow fully vaccinated tourists to frolic quarantine-free on a paradise island where most of the residents are also double-jabbed.
Phuket welcomed the first foreign tourists under the scheme on July 1st. A week later, the first foreigner tested positive for covid-19. But the Thai government persevered even as the rest of the country was hit by an enormous wave caused by the Delta variant. By late 2021 it had opened up several more places, including Bangkok, for travellers to visit without quarantine.Other countries in South-East Asia will follow Thailand’s lead in 2022, up to a point.
Barring another new variant, expect these and other corners of the region to welcome visitors again in 2022. It is not necessarily the best of South-East Asia but, after the past two years, it is not a bad start.This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2022 under the headline “The sandbox archipelago”
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