It’s official, sort of. After months of kicking sand around, debating if it will really happen, the Centre for Economic Situation Administration officially approved the Phuket Sandbox plan, an important step forward.
The announcement, made on Friday afternoon, appears to answer the often-posed question if the sandbox plan would ever happen as the much more intense and deadly third wave of Covid-19 sweep through Thailand. Phuket also continues to register from 1-8 cases per day over the past few weeks.
Following this huge step forward, the CCSA and Cabinet is expected to approve the Phuket Sandbox proposal officially on Monday, followed by the Thai cabinet Tuesday and then publishing in the Royal Gazette. Once Gazetted, overseas Thai embassies will be informed (many people have already been contacting their Embassies but with no luck up to date). Since the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha chairs both meetings it is highly likely to be approved.
The island will be opening Phuket International Airport to foreign travellers as proposed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
A few key questions seem to be clarified in the announcement. This approval appears to state that transit via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) WILL be permitted on your way to Phuket (through designated gates designed to keep transiting passengers away from other travellers). This opens up more options for flights into Thailand.
Also, travellers arriving in Phuket will need to stay a minimum of 2 weeks before travelling on to other parts of Thailand, doubling the original 7 days that had been expected.
Tourists will not be permitted to take excursions to places like Koh Phi Phi or Phang Nga Bay for day trips. In fact, the only option to leave the island within those 14 days is if they are flying out of Phuket Airport.
The official rules of the Phuket Sandbox reopening state that international travellers must be vaccinated for at least 2 weeks before entering Thailand. But the vaccination can’t be more than 1 year old either. Passengers must be from a low-to-medium risk country. If all these conditions are met, the travellers will be permitted to enter Phuket without any quarantine or self-isolation.
During your 14 days you can travel anywhere on the island of Phuket, the largest island in Thailand (about the same size as Singapore).
One big question mark throughout the whole evolution of the Phuket Sandbox program is how children will be handled. The CESA have now laid out guidance, stating that kids under 6 years old, and travelling with parents who have already been vaccinated, will be allowed to enter without restriction. For those between the ages of 6 and 18, a rapid antigen Covid-19 test will be administered as soon as they arrive at Phuket International Airport.
Another point of debate was exactly which vaccines would be accepted in order to enter Thailand. This announcement by the CESA concluded that the vaccine brand must be either one approved by the Thai FDA (currently Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Sinopharm) or one certified by the World Health Organisation.
As the initiative is aimed at bringing back tourism, even expats or Thais with a home in Phuket will be required to book a hotel that complies with Covid-19 safety standards before travelling to other parts of Thailand. Unlike ASQ though, which is still an option for unvaccinated travellers, you are only required to book a hotel, but can stay at other SHA registered hotels during your stay on the island.
The CESA meeting also included an approved proposal to work on attracting wealthy investors, pensioners, and travellers, high-skilled professionals, and digital nomads. Deputy PM and Energy Minister Supattanapong Panmechao has been tasked with discussing the details of that programme with all the agencies involved and submit findings in the future.
Phuket has cleared the first major hurdle towards approval and with momentum, it looks like the floodgates to tourism will reopen, for better or for worse. Time will tell if it opens a stream of economy-boosting tourists to the sandbox, or opens a Pandora’s (Sand) Box of the fourth wave of Covid-19.
SOURCE: National News Bureau of Thailand | FRB
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Recent comments:
And in the meantime, of course, it’s all ‘clear as mud`! Tricky situation; not easy for anyone !
No older than year…. So basically everybody like a zombies, brain washed will be vaccinating who knows what every year. Fuk da
Too many hoops to go through with too many restrictions. I’ll wait until 2022.
Im here already though)) but maybe some will come next year November.
Empty at the moment big time
Good progress! Do I need to stay in Hotel for 14 days ? and first after that period go to my own apartment in Phuket ?
That’s the plan….
So transiting BKK is approved, that will help increase the available flights. However increasing the required stay from 7 to 14 days, and banning all side trips to neighboring islands is a huge negative. Being stuck on Phuket for two weeks during the wet season, with over 80% of all tourist businesses closed, and a large portion of the local population jabbed with a vaccine who’s efficacy is in the teens after only one dose. People will be lining up to go on that trip.
What happened to the one dose rule. Does 14 days really mean 15 nights – which in the tourist industry is called 16 days.
If they don’t lay the rules out in detail, then there will be different immigration officers appplying the rules on a whim.
so does that mean that someone who owns a property must still book a hotel for 2 weeks at an approved location. Bet these will not be discounted prices either. Does someone not planning on leaving Phuket whil here not have to stay in a hotel.
Hopefully the tourists will not be hunted by the crowds if there is a fourth wave of Covid-19
A high stakes game for survival
this is not a big deal,
no tourist will come to Phuket from Europe in low season to stay for about 14 days,
many people want to have no quarantine to visit friends in other parts of Thailand,
2 times fully vaccinated, negativ PCR after 7 days will do,
why should I have the virus 7 days later ???
this will not help to help poor people working in tourism
only this crazy thing changed, you can change flight in BKK,
not only in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Doha where infections are much higher
the tourists will not bring the virus to Thailand,
bad crowded living situations in slums
and illegal border crossings are the real reasons
Another question regards accommodations. Before they were saying 150-200,00 baht for a week. Now what will it be? Hopefully the accommodation costs will be something more normal and flexible. People don’t like being told how to spend their money, even if they are rich.
Lengthening it to 2 weeks will kill it. I personally could spend maybe 5 days in Phuket, but I would not want to spend my entire vacation there or even half of my vacation. I want to go to a few other cities as well.
Sorry, but the 2 weeks leave me out. I was prepared for one but two is unacceptable. My main plan was to travel to another location in Thailand.
The change from 1 week to 2 weeks is going to be a problem for many people.
I agree with the other posters. 14 days is too long. I was going to tolerate 7 days in Phuket, but then I have other things to do in Bangkok, and Buriram. I can’t blow 14 days in Phuket, even if I’m not stuck in a hotel room. So, No go for me.
No Gov will ever dictate to me how long I have to stay in a citiy or country.
A case of beggars trying to be choosers. So thanks but no thanks
Bali, here i come!
14 days in an over priced ASQ hotel? No thanks.
Paranoid or xenophobic?
The chances of a vaccinated travelers having and passing covid is very small. Research shows, that shedding of the virus is very little in the case of asymptomatic infection of a vaccinated person. Probably 1 in 100,000 travelers will be infected. Come on Thailand!
I was considering but raising the stay from one week to two has changed my mind.
The increase to a 14 day stay is a dealbreaker for me. I’ve waited this long; I can wait longer.
The 14 day is the dagger to the heart. The only other option was to cancel the sandbox because of the 4th wave of the CCP virus. That would result in loss of face. So 14 day requirement accomplishes this for them. There is no reason for any restrictions if you have the vaccine. Period, full stop.
Total Nonsense. Why would any Intelligent person travel so far, to be put through all those very Confusing and Broken steps?
The “Dictators” MUST have BRAIN DAMAGE from COVID
Or are being Manipulated by the CCP.
The change to 14 days is the killer for the sandbox scheme.
Good luck Thailand – keep waiting for tourists coming back….
To keep Vaccinated Travellers locked in Phuket for 14 days is ridiculous as they can nor spread the virus anymore.
Is the picture of the projected number of arrival’s.
This is quarantine in a different guise and it kills it for expats with connections here and those he who may have wanted to travel to see relatives overseas , no way I am going to spend two weeks in an overpriced hotel when I return – as for tourists two weeks stuck in a hotel in the rainy season – really !
Tourist information:
Country of Origin=Low risk HKG, Vaccination= Pfizer 2 doses; Probability of carrying Covid 19 Infection=<1%
Other information to consider:
Thailand=Rainy Season; Bali=Dry Season (Cool weather);
14 days quarantine in BKK=Prison; 14 days without quarantine in Phuket=House Arrest;
I was considering doing the Phuket Sandbox if it was 7 days without quarantine. But now it would be better off to spend 7 days in Bali instead of having put into "house arrest" for 14 days in Phuket.
A very obvious and greedy objective (Thai Government) to force tourists to spend 14 days in an overpriced island where every tourist knows that just the taxi fares alone is overpriced in Phuket.
There will be a few tourists who would go there and enjoy the rainy season without the alcohol. But for the majority, NAH!!! I will pass!
Still no indication of what actions will be imposed when they inevitably find a cluster in Phuket during this.
Only an idiot or someone desperate to see their Thai family would sign up without knowing what the Thai authorities knee-jerk actions will be.
Don’t despair. The government has 25 days left to change its mind.
That’s so true about the Prayut administration. It’s so confusing and ever so fluid. Even the Thai embassies in foreign countries cpu
I see they want to attract more pensioner’s..isn’t it about time you gave the chance of vaccines free or payed to pensioner’s or retired here.. if you have a work visa and take thai jobs and earn money from thais you get vaccine but if you’re just retired and bring 10000’s of baht a month to Thailand you will be in the back of the queue.. most of those are probably in the high risk group
@DRJ – Moron, they already have dictated how long you can stay when the issue a tourist visa. That’s any country other than EU.
If you noticed, back in April the quarantine was 7 days if vaccinated and when the 3rd wave hit, it was like they blamed foreigners for it and right away put the 15 day quarantine back in but this time NO leaving your room and no room cleaning, etc. In reality, the vaccinated people coming to Thailand had nothing to do with the infections as you can see how it’s gotten worse since April. If you are vaccinated and have tested negative before you fly (unlike all the Thais that return infected because they don’t have to test before flying home) then you should not even have to quarantine at all. It’s just a money grab for hotels and the hospitals since it all comes out of YOUR pocket. They just have no clue what they are doing from day to day and they are just blind to the science behind vaccinated people and how safe they are. And people living in Thailand can come to Phuket with a negative rapid test? So they are negative and then in a few days what if they then come down with COVID because they were not at the active stage when tested and infect people on the island? Oh, you can imagine what is going to happen!!!
@EdwardV – Correct, 14 days in an overpriced hotel is not an option. This is basically another plan the Thai government came up with to milk tourists. Definitely not based on current studies on vaccinated individuals. I’d be surprised if they don’t amend that to include Airbnbs, since that also helps the local economy big time.
Left partner in Thailand may 2020. We want to get engaged 10th July not in Phuket in mainland disaster Thailand always. I have had both vaccines no risk to any thai. They let workers pile through borders Myanmar Cambodia no quarantine no 72ht test zero these brought the covid 3rd wave into Thailand not us foreigners!!! No tourists will ever come to Phuket as its 80% shut. Tourists to mainland Thailand zero to spend crazy price in Quarantine 2 weeks is normal tourist holiday as a prisoner???? Crazy!!! Zero people arrive paperwork is totally ridiculous gets worse each day Thailand sinking fast more people die on the road there each day but government accept 30-40 die each day????
@charles – dont worry, there will still be much more rooms available in SHA registered hotels than tourists coming due this great news of 14 days instead of 7 days stay….even fully vaccinated and doubled checked PCR tested ….this being the deepest security in the whole world without anyy scientific reasons !!! so low pricing will still be there. Since you are free to go around Phuket then if y have a villa, nobody will check if y spend the night in the hotel or not, its only one way to bring much needed revenues to Thailand. Thank you for the hospitality dying sector
“ even expats or Thais with a home in Phuket will be required to book a hotel that complies with Covid-19 safety standards before travelling to other parts of Thailand.”
So is it confirmed that a returning condominium owner in Phuket can stay in their condo for the first 14 days (rather than an approved hotel) if he or she has NO plans to travel to other regions of Thailand?
I don’t think so. If you’re fully vaccinated you can arrive in Phuket but will need to stay in an approved SHA Hotel for the first 14 days. Assumadely you could visit your condo anytime you liked but would be required to ‘stay’ at the hotel. As I read it…
“ . . . even expats or Thais with a home in Phuket will be required to book a hotel that complies with Covid-19 safety standards before travelling to other parts of Thailand.”
So is it confirmed that a returning condominium owner can stay in the condo for the first 14 days (rather than an approved local hotel) if he or she has NO plans to travel to other regions of Thailand?
Business in Phuket is going to boom!
@RatZig “I was considering doing the Phuket Sandbox if it was 7 days without quarantine. But now it would be better off to spend 7 days in Bali instead of having put into “house arrest” for 14 days in Phuket.” Yup but Bali isn’t open, genius.
The Sandbox SCAM, dead in the water even before it started just like all the other over complicated confusing, full of idiot reguierments plans this moron government has come up with lately. Portugal, Spain, Greece is cheaper, easier, safer and you dont have to be forced to stay there for two bloody weeks and you can travel around in those countries as you like. Not like prison island Phuket. I bet they come up with a couple of more changes in the cominh week that will confuse and put of people even more.
Phuket is dead aside from a few local communities hanging on. I live in Phuket and would be bitterly disappointed to jump through hoops and come here on a paid vacation. Maybe touring the post-apocalyptic deserted wastelands of Patong is your thing?
Where can I find a list with approved Hotels?
Is the certified hotel safer than my home? I can wait to go back, can Phuket do the same?
Unbelievable stupid shit
HAHAHA…not many genuine tourists will come under this circumstances and persisting restrictions visiting the queen of LOScam, called Phuket.
As Thais are even more hungry for money now they will increase their scamming attempts on the few who will fall to this trap to fill their pockets with cash.
The plan suits expats who are on rotation with family on Phuket though.
Hey guys, l don’t have any criminal record so why should l spend 14 days in an expensive and mafia run hotel prison cell ? You gotta be brainless to project such a no sense holiday plan.
you DON’T have to stay in the hotel. You can move freely around the island for the full 14 days, then go anywhere you like in Thailand.
Well at least it’s a start, hopefully things will improve by October at the start of the main holiday season , let’s see by the end of the year that travellers can travel between islands like lipe, mook, ngai and phi phi . And only let in in tourist that are fully vaccinated.
well they not going to fully vaccine 70% by july 1st so plan B is to experiment like guinea pigs for 2 months hoping the virus doesnt discriminate and attack locals and expat who havent had their first dose ?
They will be reluctant to lose the lucrative 14 days quarantine, however after if impose this and no visitors arrive, they would settle for 7 days.
There is really is no justification for any quarantine for a fully vaccinated, and tested visitor.
But if justification conflicts with making money to a Thai, justification will be disregarded.
“Bali, here i come!”
“But now it would be better off to spend 7 days in Bali instead of having put into “house arrest” for 14 days in Phuket.”
Why, @Dave the wave / @RatZig?
Apart from the weather, based on what?
Bali is currently closed, with no information confirmed apart from a similar “planned” date to open on 1 July, with all the rumours being that the restrictions will be at least as bad if not considerably worse, limiting tourists to stays in “green hotels” in “green areas” with no movement allowed between or outside them even after 14 days, similar rules on mask wearing, and similar restrictions on parties / alcohol, etc, and a similar dearth of “entertainment”.
I’m not suggesting that the Phuket sandbox is a good option (I think it’s a pointless, risky recipe for potential disaster), but what is Indonesia doing that’s any “better”?
The only competing local country doing anything any “better” for their economy and their people is Vietnam, where they’ve simply closed until further notice and everyone knows where they stand, with no pointless early risks.
“Research shows, that shedding of the virus is very little in the case of asymptomatic infection of a vaccinated person. Probably 1 in 100,000 travelers will be infected.”
What “research”, @Dave the wave?
Where did your figure of “1 in 100,000” from? Your expert analysis or your imagination?
No such “research” based on all vaccines approved by the WHO exists.
The only “research” that exists is based on specific vaccines and a population vaccinated, in turn, with a specific vaccine and the results vary enormously from country to country.
The research / data from Israel and the Seychelles, for example, where similar numbers are vaccinated, shows that “shedding of the virus in the case of asymptomatic infection of a vaccinated person” is five hundred (500) times worse in the Seychelles than in Israel – and even in Israel, where things are 500 times better, it’s still considerably worse than your “1 in 100,000”.
“This is quarantine in a different guise …”
Exactly, @Maverick, it’s simply robbing Peter to pay Paul so that the business the SQ / ASQ / ALSQ hotels were getting is now going to go to the SHA approved hotels on Phuket instead.
Like the first lockdown. They will do it in waves. Wave 1 phuket sandbox
Wave 2 other cities sandbox
Wave 3 bangkok and no 14 day required.
By December things will just be normal.
“… isn’t it about time you gave the chance of vaccines free or payed to pensioner’s or retired here.. ”
Registration starts on Monday 7th – the day after tomorrow.
Vaccination (for some) starts on the same day, just as it does for most Thais (again, for some).
“… if you have a work visa and take thai jobs and earn money from thais you get vaccine”
NO YOU DON’T! Some on Phuket did, but that’s all.
“… but if you’re just retired and bring 10000’s of baht a month to Thailand you will be in the back of the queue..”
NO YOU WON’T!
You’ll be in the same boat as Thais around you, which means that unless you’re in a high risk or tourist heavy priority area you’ve got a minimal chance of getting vaccinated as some provinces with 500,000 to 600,000 people are only getting 3,600 doses initially so enough for 1,800 people or 0.3% of the population.
Since most expat “pensioners or retired” here live in tourist heavy priority areas and most Thais don’t, that means that even those expats not in “high risk groups” will be vaccinated BEFORE most Thais, including many of those Thais in “high risk groups”.
What TF are you whingeing about?
It’s an absolutely crap vaccine procurement and roll out for everyone, but it’s even worse for most Thais than it is for most expats!!!
Solid plan, should yield a solid 10-12 “tourists.”
@IJTF – Phase one. Wave Thailand goodbye until September.
You couldn’t pick a worse time to visit Phuket. Monsoon waves makes travel by boat dangerous, churning cloudy water makes swimming close to the beach dangerous, diving clarity dangerous, monster storms, constant rain, sewage flooding into the streets spread nematode roundworm disease to the unwary blistered tourist. High rain brings malaria and dengue mosquitos out in the zillions. Great vacation, damp bars, elderly whores…..how much fun can you have.
TAT keeps reflecting on the numbers of tourists they want to attract….but do they mention what months of the year the vast majority of those tourists visited? Why July 1st, when it’s the worst possible time to visit. There are entire months when the weather from monsoon storms is so bad that the airports cancel all flights for weeks at a time. Aren’t the leading the unwary into dangerous conditions both before they land and while on the ground. IMHO….dumb greed by a few beer bar owners and HISO pimps.
JWEST… IT MAKES sense actually. Even if the doors swung open, airlines need to get the flights full to make it worth it. Vaccines, people mind sets.. its best to open during slower times so by holidays and winter millions can easily processed. Should they just keep the country shut until high season?
Just because its low season doesn’t mean people won’t come to Thailand. Even if its a fraction of what would come in winter, people do still come in summer and they contribute to the economy. Why do you suck? Can you try to suck less?
Life is good here, even without tourists. Its cheap, the people are friendly, at least towards me. Be happy. You live once and then you die. Enjoy your experience while you are alive.
Maybe we should lockdown forever? I am wondering what are the alternatives, being offered by commenters in this “comments” section? Let’s just lockdown forever……
J West sums it up 100% true once again. TAT and this government is beyond desperate but as always clueless. I bet they forgot about the rain season while they made up the Sandbox Scam desperate as they are.
14 day quarantine just turned us off. Was going to book but not now. 2 weeks in the rain with very little open, and with the real prospect of area quarantines as well does not make Phuket a destination for us at this time. Going to Spain instead. They seem to actually want foreign tourists.
@Harvey – you give me hope!
I’ve decided not to come after hearing 14 days compusory stay.
Hope most people thinking same.
@pphuket – You can still go to Bali even though DPS isn’t open. You need to obtain a special visa, quarantine in Jakarta for 5 days, then head out to Bali. I most likely will be doing this myself since Thailand did the Sandbox “Bait and Switch”
Thai journalists have not explained, other than about 60 % of citizens of Western countries are vaccinated, the meaning of a low-risk or medium risk country. My country is in the top ten in vaccinated citizens on July 1rst. I want to book my flight to Phuket in three weeks, despite the extension to two weeks from one. Low-risk or medium-risk country, the logic is vaccination ?
I think there’s some confusion out there based on some of the comments here.
One doesn’t have to stay 14 days in Phuket if they are not traveling outside to visit another province. They can in fact stay for as few as 5 days (or 10, or 12). The 14 day is only if you want to visit another province.
@Dontshout – this is Phuket not mwambo mwambo land !!
@Julian – don’t worry she’ll have found someone else by now ?
Congratulations to both the authorities on Phuket and the Thai Govt if they can make this happen. It is both logical and sensible and shows faith in the vaccine which few countries in the world have done.
I hope many people do come and this works. I believe it will.
What a load of crap! Nobody in their right mind will go through all that garbage just to eventually lay on a filthy beach for a couple of weeks!
These morons in Bangkok have no damned idea what they are doing and this whole thing is more like a Cats Sand Box, one that needs cleaning out.
Too little, too late. I have been on Suvernabhumi yesterday, all empty and closed, not even one coffeeshop is open. Just sitting in Dubai Airport waiting for my connection flight. Here is all 90% back to normal, only mask wearing and sone chinese idiotsin full protection gear. Who in his right mind would visit LOScam now…there are other better places to go
@Sunseeker –
i own a condo in bangkok and left my that wife and child on the farm in Phayao. yeah i was considering doing the sandbox but for sure 14 days in same a hotel a joke. The Thai government does not quite get how we farang think. why would I spend 150,000 baht for the week (which was first proposed) plus an expensive flight, ripoff covid insurance, and have tons of legwork dealing with a foreign embassy to get the COE and pass the other requirements they forget to mention like “fit to fly, visa, sticks shoved up your nose…OMG.. I was in Phuket last month before i flew back to USA for my immediate moderna shot.Patong is practically deserted. sure surin beach, kata beach are at their best..even patong beach looking good. very few restaraunts, all street food but good. now no bars, no resteraunt serving drinks. damn i fly next week into greece as an aamerican with 2 vaccine shots. 350.00usd for a furnished 2 bedroom apt.for 2-1/2 weeks, walk to acropolis then spain, then italy and portugal..and maybe i will be lucky to get my thai wife into usa in september to get her vaccine..not the chinese sinvoac (which their own lead virologist says is “ineffective”…woops.LOL). maybe Thai planners should talk to us farang world travelers who weigh our options even if we have money to burn. There are so many better options now. Europe is warm, dry and really cheap. thailand is wet, empty, deserted, overpriced, exchange rate sucking big time… and a bit depressing. lets not even talk about ko samui..i wanted to cry when i went to bophut and chaweang…DESERTED!! i love my wife, enjoy my time in thailand but thai authorities are not making it easy now to return..They need to grow a brain and listen to the foreigners..but then look at the vaccine rollout..another joke..not much else to say. see you all in greece, croatia, spain, italy, portugal,poland ..maybe even uganda for safari!!(all WITHOUT QUARUNTINE!!!!!!!!!!!) JUST VACCINATIONS. READ THAT THAI PLANNERS. Thailand is NOT the center of OUR universes..(maybe my wife’s LOL)
@TheMan2021 – you are TOTALLY wrong..read better 14 days mandatory..the minimum inan overpriced hotel..period..thats for warmups..read more carefully please..
Many people saying the rooms will be overpriced. Actually prices are the same they have been over the last year, which is lower than pre-covid. And as more hotels join SHA this should keep them low.
What time do I need to be in bed in my SHA room, before the authorities are informed that I am AWOL. Or will the Mor Chana app tip off the authorities. Do I go to jail if I leave a hotel without my cellphone?
@Thaiger – Given you go back to your hotel every night. Last updates say you can split your 14 days stay between 2 hotels.
Actually you can stay in as many SHA hotels as you want during your 14 day ‘island quarantine’
Back to 7 days planning or failure !!!! Simple, already by all means there would have been few coming due the amount of hassles, so new story of 14 days will blow out the remaining of Thailand straight dancing reputation
@Thaiger – i just read a Travel & Leisure article indicating that some approved hotels are being offered at US$1 (0ne Dollar) per night to motivate tourists to return. I wonder if fully-vaccinated condo owners with such deals can just pay the $14 on their check-in dates and immediately move back into their condos. They could return to the hotel for any required Covid testing when it’s required.
Also, I wonder if professionally-managed condominium developments in Phuket can apply for approval to be included on the list of SHA approved “hotels” (since so many condo owners rent their units out on a short-term basis on websites like Agoda and Airbnb). If the managements of these condo developments can show that at least 70% of their staff have been vaccinated (and all other health & safety requirements have been met) why would the government care if it’s a approved condo vs. an approved hotel? Haven’t condo owners invested enough already in the Thai economy by buying their units? Don’t foreign condo owners also import money and spend it in Thailand? (Often far more than “tourists”).
Thailand No Thanks!
Thailand My Country
Face mask everywhere Face mask up to you
Expensive PCR tests No testing or free
Expensive quarantine No quarantine
Bars/restaurants closed Everything open
Travel restrictions No restrictions
Expensive insurances No insurances
The last time I went to Phuket for 3 days I wanted to leave after 2.Everyone was trying to cheat my family and I. No way would I waste 14 days on that island
@Simon Small – I’m talking about phuket same as this news report is about the sandbox scheme in PHUKET yes I was right if you have a work visa here you can get and already now many have had the vaccine.. and I am certainly not in the same boat as other thais in PHUKET they have all been offered the vaccine and allowed to register. myself as a retired visa holder has not again you are referencing to all of Thailand not the sandbox of phuket only
@Werner
for those who having reading difficulties, and that seem to be a fair few here, you NOT have to stay in an ASQ, but just an SHA approved hotel. Most legal decent hotels are SHA approved. Nothing over-priced, most have really slashed their prices.
I’ve just arrived in Phuket on business, I drove in as I live on the mainland. Driving around the island most places are shut down never to reopen again, it’s so quiet here at the moment,the only place with any life is rawai were there’s plenty of restaurants open but you can’t get a beer in them. On the upside if your single it’s a whore mongers Paradise it’s just full of unemployed hookers, there everywhere,TAT need to get that angle out the the world mongers.
@Roger – I guess you can go to your apartment to. But maybe they need you to sleep in the hotel. Lets see if and how the manage this. Otherwise its easy. Check inn the hotel and straight go to your own apartment and come back to the hotel some times to fake your presence and check out day 15. You will not be the only one who is actually living on Phuket and staying there with family or friend(s)
Well I was so hoping to arrive from the U.K. to the sandbox 7 day stay befor wanting to travel to Pattaya. Now it’s 14 days befor onward travel plus 7 day U.K. return quarantine as Thailand is on the amber list. My partner lives in Pattaya with no vaccinations yet so Carnt even meet up in Phuket. Relationships to continue by FaceTime? must be Boris who is running Thailand aswell as the U.K. clueless it’s obviously Thailand government do not want tourists. 14 nights on Phuket island not a chance hate the place 7 days is bad enough
@Sunseeker – that’s exactly what I was thinking as well, and it seems like TheThaiger is sort of “saying it without saying it” that visitors would be able to book the hotel, leave the airport, and head straight to their preferred accommodation.
Which is exactly what I plan to do in October. Book the approved hotel, get all my stamps and approvals. First two steps outside the HKT airport doors, cancel the hotel and haul ass to an AirBnB.
Why do the Thai authorities think tourists, especially those who have been vaccinated, would bother to spend 14 days holed up in Phuket. All expats who needed to get back are now in Thailand and holiday makers
will not put up with all the ridiculous paperwork etc. The Thais have such a high opinion of themselves and their country, there are several countries opening up now offering better value – the comment about Bali sounds encouraging. People are realising that the CCP virus is not going to be eradicated and unless we want to lockdown for ever we will have to learn to live with it.
Is Phuket really all that?
Travel is to enjoy and have fun in places to visit. However,to travel with 14 days restrictions will definitely spoil the mood of planning a trip.If something happens within this 14 days,what then,go under quarantine or forced to cut short the trip and return back to country of origin ? Let see how it pans out come July 1st,as it will definitely not be boring.
@Jason – I think that is a fantastic idea! Phuket is so much better now, than prior to C19. Mother nature is recovering and the result is beautiful beaches and cleaner air and water and a relief of all the thuggish mini van, taxi drivers.
@ ThaiTiger
“you DON’T have to stay in the hotel. You can move freely around the island for the full 14 days, then go anywhere you like in Thailand”.
no, but I have to pay for the hotel, even if I stay in a house with my own private pool.
So I dececided no money for the hotel, and bad luck for all the restaurants where I will not eat every evening.
@Thaiger – @Artur – will they be opening the resturants and bars,for the vaccinated tourist or will we be allowed to tour a walking dead episode ..everything still closed