Thai Resort Island Plans to Open to Vaccinated Tourists in Oct 
By Randy Thanthong-Knight

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

• Koh Samui plan similar to initiative by Phuket island
• Island has own airport, isolating it from rest of country

Thailand’s southern resort island of Koh Samui plans to fully reopen to foreign visitors who are vaccinated, and will allow them to skip quarantine from Oct. 1.

“The island’s economy and infrastructure were built around foreign tourism, and businesses here have been struggling without foreign visitors over the past year,” Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, said in a phone interview on Saturday. “We need to reopen as soon as possible to be able to compete for visitors with other countries.”

Koh Samui’s quarantine-free reopening plan is similar to the initiative proposed by Phuket, another Thai resort island, which seeks to waive quarantine rules for vaccinated travelers and to inoculate enough residents to create herd immunity. Like Phuket, Koh Samui has its own international airport on the island, which makes it a natural bubble isolated from the rest of the country.

Full story: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-13/thai-resort-island-plans-to-open-to-vaccinated-tourists-in-oct

 

-- © Copyright Bloomberg 2021-03-15

 

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Fingers crossed the rest of the country will follow suit.

Only 7 months to go what and little there is left open will be long gone by then in this muppet show ????

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Like Phuket, Koh Samui has its own international airport on the island,

So, international flight arrivals from where???

It might be better if the residents of Samui were all vaccinated first, then let other vaccinated folks come in.

Yeah send CV to the islands….NOT good open now 

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Fingers crossed the rest of the country will follow suit.

the vaccine stops you dying or getting seriously sick. It does not stop you getting the virus.  And the jury is still out regarding if you can still spread the virus after the vaccine.

Would be a good idea to vaccinate as many people on the island as possible (and who are willing) before this date. That would offer more encouragement to any visitors.

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Fingers crossed the rest of the country will follow suit.

Don't even think about it. If Bojo wins the vote to extend lock down measures in the UK. 

At a certain point Koh Samui will be renamed to Corona Island. 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Koh Samui’s quarantine-free reopening plan is similar to the initiative proposed by Phuket, another Thai resort island, which seeks to waive quarantine rules for vaccinated travelers and to inoculate enough residents to create herd immunity. Like Phuket, Koh Samui has its own international airport on the island, which makes it a natural bubble isolated from the rest of the country.

As long as the island is locked down and no-one can leave it to infect the rest of the country... Thais included.

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Fingers crossed the rest of the country will follow suit.

Fingers crossed it doesn't until we've had our jabs... thank you very much.

I care more about my health than someones holiday.

We drove to Chaweng to eat dinner this saturday night. The normally bustling Beach road was totally deserted. No shops were open and not even one single tourist in sight. Luckily a few resorts was still open, so we had a nice dinner in Baitong restaurant. Covid 19 recovery help seems to be extremely urgent here. Get the population vaccinated as soon as possible and get the vaccinated tourists in.

30 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

So, international flight arrivals from where???

From foreign lands via Suavanabhum.

I didn't think anything but twin turbo props could land there but I may be out of date 

And in Suvarnabhumi they change to the domestic terminal and mix with the unvaccinated general population. Not gonna happen. 

3 minutes ago, Shuya said:

And in Suvarnabhumi they change to the domestic terminal and mix with the unvaccinated general population. Not gonna happen. 

Plus they will mix with carriers of the mutated and harder to control variant, more pie in the sky. 

Is this just more wishful thinking? Yet another great idea from understandably desperate people? Surely, until the government announce the policy (royal decree?), nothing is going to happen. Pick a date out of hat, add some projection from TAT's random number generator, identify a niche market that no one has yet thought of (rich, Russian, hairdressing digital nomads), eye of newt and toe of frog..... THEN we have a plan.

Bring your own vaccine. 

The way the grown ups are playing around, it could be a long time away. 

51 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

So, international flight arrivals from where???

From China and Japan

1 minute ago, ICELANDMAN said:

From China and Japan

Direct???

7 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Direct???

Read  Bangkokpost today, direct or not is not important

38 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

As long as the island is locked down and no-one can leave it to infect the rest of the country... Thais included.

Thais and expats have been coming to Samui ever since the initial lock down finished.

To my knowledge, only two imported infections and none exported.

33 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

From foreign lands via Suavanabhum.

I didn't think anything but twin turbo props could land there but I may be out of date 

You are a tad out of date.

Before the virus, there were approx. 12 different airlines coming direct to Samui. All jets. (Airbus 319, 320 etc.)

Unlike  Phuket where Wifey has  just returned from she didn't  notice  much of a  drop in room prices when she was  looking recently down there.

15 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

Unlike  Phuket where Wifey has  just returned from she didn't  notice  much of a  drop in room prices when she was  looking recently down there.

I noticed the Hilton in Pattaya actually went up in price.  $540 USD for a room I paid ~$330 for a few years ago.  Making up for earlier losses I guess?

Either way, this Samui 'bubble' is never going to happen.  Besides, who wants to rush back to an island where half of it is closed for the foreseeable future?

28 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

Thais and expats have been coming to Samui ever since the initial lock down finished.

To my knowledge, only two imported infections and none exported.

That may well be the case, but in October dropping quarantine, hardly anyone inoculated that would all change.

Honestly i've completely written Thailand off for years listening to this daily drivel coming out of this lot......  Cyprus, Turkey, Crete, Portugal, are all looking streets ahead of Thailand and SE Asia to be fair......  and cheaper as well.......  What a shame........... Given the goose that was laying golden eggs and they've killed it for Som Tam.........   " Don't laugh at me because i'm a fool ".........  

all I see is a lot of sheep

I live in both Bangkok and Samui.  I travel back and forth weekly.  So let me bring all of you up to date on Samui.  

First:  The Koh Samui airport (USM) is OWNED by BANGKOK AIR.  There are NO INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS allowed.  Bangkok air is the ONLY airline that uses the airport (Thai airways but no longer).  Bangkokair flys both ATR (Turbo props) and Airbus (twin engine Jets) to the island depending on seats required.  ANY international travelers MUST come thru Suvarnbhumi (BKK) Airport so Quarantine must occur in Bangkok.  There was just an announcement that Koh Samui would try to open up for immunized travelers in October BUT they still must enter thru Bangkok first.

Second: In Samui, most tourist areas are decimated.  Most stores are closed or vacated.  Hooters, Hard Rock, Burger King, McDonalds, 711, etc are all shuttered in Chewang Beach.  Other areas of Samui are still functioning, but not crowded.  There is no traffic, Many beautiful hotels and restaurants are open with few customers.  Fisherman’s village is hanging on by a thread but the popular and local restaurants are still functioning.  During a 3 day weekend holiday, the island is busier.

If you’re looking to get out of the city and come to an beach resort which is very easy to get to from Bangkok, try Samui.  It’s a 50 minute flight time compared to 2 hours top Pattaya or 3 hours to Hua Hin.  And the best part is the flights (which were usually expensive on Bangkokair due to their monopoly) are very very inexpensive. Average 1 way fare 2200b.  And of course there are always deals.

So instead of constantly complaining, take advantage of what Thailand has to offer.  When the world conquers the COVID pandemic, things will slowly return to normal.  Just don’t hold your breath! ????

2 hours ago, nickmondo said:

the vaccine stops you dying or getting seriously sick. It does not stop you getting the virus.  And the jury is still out regarding if you can still spread the virus after the vaccine.

The vaccine ''may'' stop you from dying, its not 100% effective!! Long term trials on any of the vaccines have not happened yet.