A majority of people do not want foreign tourists to return soon while the Covid-19 situation in the country is improving, saying foreigners could spread the disease and Thai people should be able to enjoy the country first, according to the results of an opinion survey by the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll.
The poll was conducted online between June 9-12 on 1,116 people throughout the country to gauge their opinions after the government announced the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown and invited the Thai people to visit places around the country to help stimulate the economy.
Each respondent was allowed to give more than one answer.
Asked when they thought Thailand’s tourism would return to normal after the Covid-19 situation is resolved, 41.40% said in one year; 25.90% in six months; 20.52% in two years; and 12.18% in more than two years.
Asked whether they wanted foreign tourists to return to visit Thailand soon, 75.72% said “no”, with 54.39% saying that they would like the Thai people to tour their own country first before going elsewhere and 21.33% saying that they were afraid the foreigners would spark a second wave of the virus.
The rest, 24.28%, said they wanted foreign tourists to come soon so that they could help spur the economy and generate income for the country.
Asked which provinces they would like to visit the most, the top five were: Chiang Mai (31.00%), Prachuap Khiri Khan (28.14%), Bangkok (19.35%), Chon Buri (18.55%) and Kanchanaburi (11.92%).
