THE famous Thai traditional massage is being forced to reinvent itself in the Covid-19 era as barriers are placed on human touch and masks hide the faces of masseurs.
This has implications on both its appeal to customers, and its role as employer of last resort when other industries falter in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Massage parlours had to change the way they operate with some installing ultraviolet disinfection equipment in every room, and loading up on health and cleaning supplies. This has resulted in higher costs but customers are few.
According to a Bloomberg news report, the survival of this industry matters in Thailand, as wellness tourism generated expenditures of 376 billion baht in 2017.
About 530,000 Thais are directly employed in the sector, making up 1.4 per cent of Thailand's workforce and 2.6 per cent of its GDP.
Massage, spa therapy and medical treatments are integral to the wellness-tourism industry, with Thailand's 2,800 luxury spas alone accounting for US$1.3 billion. Nationwide, it is estimated there are about 10,000 massage outlets.
The government turned to massage during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s by expanding vocational training to provide jobless people with an employable skill.
Although massage shops were allowed to reopen last month after the Covid-19 lockdown, many locals are wary and there are fewer foreign tourists.
Thailand also plans to turn away from mass tourism and focus on wooing rich tourists for luxury travel in a post-pandemic world. The vast majority of massage parlours in Thailand are modest street-side shops, where many of the clients are locals.
Although massage shops have been given the green light to reopen provided they keep least 1.5 metres of space between customers and use separate rooms for some treatments, many remain locked amid the health and tourism obstacles that didn't exist in previous recessions.
Some foreign visitors will be coming soon under "travel-bubble agreements" Thailand is planning with other countries and territories. But it's unclear how wary tourists will be of traditional therapy.