Phuket to present reopening plan this Friday with fingers crossed

Phuket is expected to present a reopening plan for approval that would allow vaccinated tourists visit without undergoing quarantine starting in July. The plan will be submitted to the Centre for Economic Situation Administration this Friday.

Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, says the Phuket Tourism Sandbox plan can only be successful if the Andaman island achieves herd immunity by vaccinating at least 70% of its population before letting in visitors.

Therefore, the plan also includes how many doses of the vaccine the island would need as well as a timeline of administering them. To reach the immunity goal within the time frame, Phuket should start the first round of inoculations by April 15, followed by the second from May 15 onward.

“Previously, Phuket set the Phuket First October for quarantine-free entry. But the new sandbox with an earlier starting date will benefit the whole country as we can evaluate this programme first before Thailand reopens all its borders in October.”

He went on to say that long-term travellers are likely to visit Thailand initially as post-Covid travel restrictions and measures signal that travellers may want to stay for a longer period of time after jumping through the screening hoops.

Such hoops that travellers may jump through under the Sandbox plan include showing a vaccine certificate, vaccine passport or IATA travel pass, a PCR test at the airport and activation of the ThailandPlus tracing application while in Phuket.

Meanwhile, the president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, says Koh Samui will introduce sealed routes to international tourists that keep them away from residents. Both vaccinated and non-vaccinated tourists will be required to stay in their hotel rooms for the first 2 days and get a swab test on the second day.

If the Covid test result is negative, they can travel to designated areas within the island such as Ang Thong Marine National Park and Koh Tan from the fourth to the seventh days.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post