Bangkok, March 2 (IANS): About 6,700 hotel rooms in five tourist hotspots of Thailand have been prepared for use as an area quarantine for inoculated foreigners in an aim to reboot tourism, a Minister has confirmed.

The area quarantine program, which shortens the compulsory quarantine from 14 days to three days, allows foreign visitors to spend time in the hotel's premises after three days of self-isolation in their rooms, Xinhua news agency quoted Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn as saying on Monday.

The hotel rooms comprise 2,752 in Phuket province, 2,522 in Chonburi of which Pattaya is part, 1,024 in Krabi, 288 on Koh Samui island off Surat Thani and 130 in Chiang Mai.

Foreign visitors who are vaccinated against Covid-19 will be obliged to undergo the area quarantine immediately after they arrived in Thailand, Phiphat said.

He quoted travel firms as saying that Russian tourists would be among the first foreign visitors to Phuket under such area quarantine measures.

Thailand currently requires a Certificate of Entry from all travellers in order to enter the country and are subject to a 14-day quarantine at a state-approved facility.

Travellers must also provide proof of an insurance policy that covers treatment for Covid-19 up to the cost of $100,000 and a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure.