Thailand readies for tourism reboot with reopening test-run

Thailand held a dry-run on Wednesday for its long-awaited, quarantine-free reopening to vaccinated travellers, as the country rushes to reboot an industry battered by an 18-month hiatus in international tourism. At Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, Thailand's main gateway, airport staff and health and immigration officials ran a simulation of the arrival of a plane full of visitors, to test out electronic screening measures. "All the passengers will get their QR code checked by the Department of Disease Control," said Kittipong Kittikachorn, the airport's general manager. "It will include all the details about insurance, vaccine certificate, or hotel booking." Among the Asia-Pacific's most visited countries, Thailand has lost about 3m tourism-dependent jobs and an estimated $50b a year in revenue due to COVID-19. From Nov. 1, vaccinated visitors from eligible countries, including Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Australia, China, Japan and Singapore, will be allowed to skip quarantine, providing they have negative COVID-19 tests.<br/>