In Pics | Thailand allows vaccinated foreign tourists as thousands enter country

Hundreds of vaccinated foreign tourists are scheduled have arrived in Thailand. This is the first wave of visitors to Thailand in 18 months who will not have to undergo quarantine for the coronavirus. Scroll down for images. 

International visitors await instructions from health officials inside the arrival terminal at Suvarnabhumi International Airport as Thailand welcomes the first group of vaccinated tourists without quarantine in Bangkok

Local visitors take pictures at the Grand Palace on the day of reopening in Bangkok on November 1, 2021.

An airport employee assists passengers through the arrival area at Phuket International Airport. 

Several European countries are also on the list as officials hope to capitalise on travellers from the northern hemisphere escaping the winter blues.

Staff prepare tables at a restaurant on Khao San Road, which is a once popular tourist strip, in Bangkok. Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for about 12 per cent of Thailand's GDP and its capital city was the world's most visited city. The crisis has cost Thailand about 3 million tourism-dependent jobs and an estimated $50 billion a year in revenue.

The new national programme requires all the arrivals to spend their first night in a pre-approved hotel and receive a negative COVID-19 test before they are able to travel freely to rest of the country.

People drink at a restaurant on Khao San Road as restaurants open for tourists in Thailand.