THAILAND is offering £70 hotel rooms from just 70p, in the latest bid to encourage tourists to return.
Phuket, one of the most popular tourist resorts, has launched a "one-night, one-dollar" scheme for a number of hotels in the region.
The rooms would usually cost from about 1,000 to 3,000 baht (£22 to £68) per night, and will instead cost just $1 (70p) withe government subsiding the difference.
Tourism Council of Thailand president Chamnan Srisawat told TTG Asia that he expects 70,000 rooms to be included in the scheme, with one million nights on offer throughout July.
The new scheme comes ahead of the hopeful return of tourists next month – anyone fully vaccinated will be able to visit Phuket without having to quarantine on arrival.
If the scheme is successful, then it could be rolled out to other popular holiday destinations in Thailand such as Koh Samui and Bangkok.
Mr Srisawat said that the region has suffered or the past 15 months due to Covid, adding: "Only mass tourism will save us."
Phuket, which welcomed 6.7m tourists last year, mainly in the first few months, hopes to welcome just 500,000 this year.
In 2019, pre-Covid, Thailand received 40m tourists.
While Phuket hopes to reopen from July 1, aiming to have vaccinated 70 per cent of the population, the rest of Thailand aims to lower entry restrictions from October.
Thailand remains on the UK's amber list, along with most other holiday destinations, which requires a mandatory 10-day quarantine when returning to Britain, as well as two Covid tests on day two and eight.
Portugal, one of the few holiday destinations on the green list which doesn't require a UK quarantine, was removed last week, with the new rules enforced from tomorrow.
Frantic Brits have faced a mad scramble home to avoid the 10-day self-isolation, with flight prices soaring from £30 to £784 in recent days.
However, UK hotels are now slashing prices, with city breaks from just £16 per night.
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