BANGKOK－More than a year and a half into the pandemic, Thailand's tourism industry is struggling to survive, and it is now trying to shift from mass tourism to attracting more big-spending visitors.

The country received some 40 million international visitors in 2019, and the number plunged to only 6.7 million in 2020.

For 2021, the Tourism Authority of Thailand predicts that even in the best-case scenario, only around 1-2 million foreign tourists will visit. Some believe that this figure is too optimistic given the country's low vaccination rate and the rising number of coronavirus infections in the country.

Focusing on high-end tourism has always been an ambitious target for Thailand. The authorities now believe that Thailand must use the pandemic as the catalyst to overhaul the industry, as they see this as the only way that the sector can survive and navigate through the crisis.

"The government's tourism-revival strategy is to target big spenders that are seeking privacy and social distancing during their stays, especially during a post-COVID-19 world," Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said.

High-end travelers

Phiphat added: "The sector will try to attract high-end travelers, rather than a large number of visitors like what we have been relying on in the past."

The minister said the bigger-spending tourists will also help address problems that surfaced before the pandemic, such as overcrowding at beaches and temples and other environmental impacts. It is vital that Thailand resets its entire tourism system, he said.

Several industry experts and operators have also attempted to promote specific tourism segments, such as medical and wellness, sports and food, or ultraluxury travel.

On July 1, the resort island of Phuket launched a so-called sandbox scheme allowing vaccinated foreigners from low- and medium-risk countries to visit the island without undergoing a two-week quarantine.

This month, an extension to the program was approved by the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration. The program cuts the mandatory stay in Phuket from 14 days to seven days before the visitors are allowed to travel on to other designated destinations.

The Phuket sandbox and other pilot schemes are designed to be a long-term project, building up toward the peak season from December to March. Many tourism-dependent localities elsewhere in the world stand to benefit from Thailand's progress in reopening travel.

The two most important factors determining the pace of the tourism recovery in Thailand are the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout in the country and the ability to control the spread of the virus, especially the more transmissible Delta variant, analysts said.

These factors are crucial to Thailand's plan to fully reopen for vaccinated tourists by mid-October.

Xinhua