Phuket sandbox has welcomed 42,000 international arrivals since July 1

Since the launch of the Phuket sandbox scheme on July 1, the southern island has welcomed over 42,000 foreign visitors to its shores. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has got the calculator out again and according to TAT Phuket director, Nanthasiri Ronnasiri, over 2 billion baht has been generated for the economy.

“We set the target at 100,000 visitors because we thought we would have both short-and long-haul visitors. But so far, most of our visitors are from the United States and Europe.”

The Bangkok Post reports that most foreign travellers came from the US, the UK, Israel, France, and Germany. A reduction in the number of days tourists must spend on Phuket means travellers can now venture to Krabi, Surat Thani, and Phang Nga after 7 days, instead of the previous 14. After 7 days at 1 of those tourist spots, they are free to travel elsewhere in Thailand.

In related news, Phuket health chief Dr Kusak Kukiatiikoon has confirmed infection rates on the island are on the decline.

“During the past week, the daily infection rate has been 170 -180 people. On Tuesday, we found 4 positive cases from the Phuket Sandbox programme on top of 175 local infections.”

Kusak goes on to say that over 83% of the island’s population has received the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Officials are now busy rolling out booster doses and the vaccination of students between the ages of 12 and 18 is about to get underway. The health chief says the first group will be inoculated between October 8 and 11, with the rest of the students vaccinated around the end of the month.

“We have received 12,780 doses of Pfizer vaccines from the Public Health Ministry. We will start to vaccinate the first group of students during October 8 -11. We will have enough vaccines for every student in time before the schools open.”

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SOURCE: Bangkok Post