Thailand’s travel leaders are reassuring holidaymakers with upcoming trips to the Southeast Asian destination that for the time being they will be able to enter the destination, with or without travel insurance.
The clarification comes days after officials told media that the tourism hot spot was planning to introduce a new ruling, which would prevent visitors from passing immigration without pre-purchased travel insurance.
In an official statement, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said that while there’s a plan for mandatory travel insurance, it could take “several years” before it is in enforced.
“Compulsory travel insurance to Thailand is a long term plan with an aim to increase safety of the tourists, but this could take years to be enforced.”
Tourism Authority of Thailand
The tourism bureau said it is working with government agencies, tourism operators and relevant stakeholders on how best to approach mandatory travel insurance.
“Also any legal amendments need to pass the cabinet’s approval,” the statement read. “All these might take several years.”
Thailand’s leaders hope the new ban will help cut back on medical costs spent on tourists per year, which is around three billion baht or AU$117 million.
Click here to read about what the industry think of compulsory travel insurance.