Thailand's Phuket Welcomes Vaccinated Tourists

BANGKOK, July 1 (Bernama) -- Thailand’s resort island, Phuket, welcomed vaccinated foreign tourists today under a pilot project to restart its tourism industry hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time after 15 months, the Phuket International Airport welcomed its first international flight – an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi with 25 passengers – which arrived at 11.10 am (local time). It was the first of four flights with about a total of 400 vaccinated tourists from Doha, Tel Aviv, Singapore and Abu Dhabi scheduled to arrive in Phuket today (July 1) under the new “Phuket Sandbox” initiative. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha flew to the island to launch the reopening. “The reopening of Phuket is a major step towards reopening the kingdom. This is all about paving the way for Thais to bring their livelihood back to normal,” he said in a post on his Facebook page today. Under the "Phuket Sandbox” plan, vaccinated foreign tourists will not need to undergo a 14-day compulsory quarantine, but they must stay on the island for 14 days before travelling to other provinces in the kingdom. Foreign travellers from low and medium COVID-19 risk countries must apply for Certificate of Entry (CoE) and purchase a medical insurance that covers treatment for COVID-19 up to the cost of US$100,000 as well as negative RT-PCR test within 72 hours before departure. Besides that, the foreign travellers must also have a certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 with a vaccine approved by the Ministry of Public Health or the World Health Organisation (WHO) no less than 14 days before their travel date. The authority will postpone Phuket’s reopening if daily COVID-19 cases rose into double digits on the island. The “Phuket Sandbox” will serve as a model for other tourist provinces including Chiang Mai, Chon Buri (Pattaya), Krabi and Phang Nga and Surat Thani (Koh Samui) which are expected to open in stages starting July 15. Last month, Prayuth announced Thailand will reopen to fully-vaccinated visitors by mid-October without quarantine or other inconvenient restrictions. For domestic travellers entering Phuket, they must have received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine or two doses of other brands. The government expects about 100,000 foreign tourists to come to Thailand under the “Phuket Sandbox” initiative in the third quarter of this year and generate 8.9 billion baht in revenue. Based on the bookings made with six airlines for July, Government Spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said a total of 11,894 tourists (8,281 departures, and 3,613 arrivals) will be travelling under the Phuket Sandbox scheme via 426 flights. Meanwhile, Thailand 's Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said a total of 6,020 people have registered for “Phuket Sandbox” as of today. He said a total of 3,034 vaccine certs have been approved and a total of 1,379 CoE have been issued while 4,262 applications are pending approval. “A total of 323 CoE have been issued for July 1, 471 (July 2) and 270 (July 3),” he said in a tweet. -- BERNAMA