Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA) Plus Certificate

Phuket Province has opened an online registration platform for the Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA) Plus Certificate, as the island is preparing to welcome back fully vaccinated visitors without quarantine requirements from 1 July, 2021.

The website utilises digital technology to develop a smart data system that can track the vaccination record of staff at each venue and business. It can analyse the large amount of aggregate data and provide insights as to which establishment already has at least 70% of staff inoculated and can be awarded the ‘SHA Plus’.

The Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA) project is a result of cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Ministry of Public Health, the Department of Disease Control, the Department of Health and the Department of Health Service Support, as well as government and private sector organizations involved in the tourism industry.

Together they aim to make tourism a part of Thailand’s disease prevention measures and ensure that both Thai and foreign tourists have a positive experience, that they are happy and confident in the sanitation and safety standards of Thailand’s tourism products and services.

This can be achieved by combining public health safety measures and establishments’ high-quality service standards to reduce the risk and prevent the spread of COVID-19, as well as improving Thailand’s tourism products and service standards.

TAT awards SHA certificates, assigns a serial number to successful entrepreneurs, and records it in the database of the list of entrepreneurs who have received the SHA certificate. The TAT can also revoke the SHA certificate if entrepreneurs fail to comply with SHA standards.

SHA provides sanitation and safety standards for tourists. During the re-opening period of establishments or services, tourists and service recipients are asked to provide any suggestions (Post Audit) via the online system provided by TAT, which will be used for further improvement. Establishments will be randomly inspected by the committee.

Currently, there are 1,389 venues and businesses across Phuket that have received the Amazing Thailand SHA certificate. These include 882 in the hotel, accommodation and homestay category; 169 in the restaurants and diners’ category; 157 in the travel agency category, and 181 in other categories.

Introduced in May 2020, the Amazing Thailand SHA is used to assess 10 types of business; namely, restaurants and diners; hotels, accommodation and homestays; recreational activities and tourist attractions; transportation; travel agencies; health and beauty; department stores and shopping centres; sports for tourism; activities and meetings, theatres and entertainment, and souvenir shops and other shops.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) recently certified the Amazing Thailand SHA certification in alignment with the WTTC SafeTravels protocols.

For more information, visit Amazing Thailand SHA here.

The TAT Newsroom (www.tatnews.org) will continue to provide regular updates on Phuket’s preparations to safely reopen to foreign tourists ranging from entry requirements and public health procedures to local vaccinations and hygiene standards.

For regular updates on the tourism-related COVID-19 situation in Thailand, visit the TAT Newsroom via www.tatnews.org; Facebook (tatnews.org); and Twitter (Tatnews_Org).

For additional information and assistance relating to Thailand’s tourism, contact the TAT Contact Centre 1672 or Tourist Police 1155.