Phuket Sandbox: Officials say island ready to open, but fewer tourists expected

[Rhacsyn]

5 hours ago, DjSilver said:

you can book your hotel with agoda and much cheaper than directly with the scam-hotel.

Hotel booking and QR confirmation and code received. All done directly with the hotel. Baht 13,000 for 14 nights but thanks for your advice

[Boedog]

15 hours ago, grumbleweed said:

Considering they've only just stop short of implementing water torture on arrival...

If what we've already seen is a sign of how they welcome tourists, I'd hate to see what happens when they repel them.

 

Update from latest meeting water torture has  been approved they are just waiting for the waterproof tracking devices 

[kiwikeith]

16 hours ago, grumbleweed said:

Considering they've only just stop short of implementing water torture on arrival...

If what we've already seen is a sign of how they welcome tourists, I'd hate to see what happens when they repel them.

 

Mr Yuttasak hopes British people can return home and not face quarantine, wishful thinking. 

NZ has just suspended the travel bubble between Australia and NZ, because of a Delta outbreak which travelled across the Tasman, fortunately seems contained in Wellington at present.

Sydney is locked down as of this moment, Delta is spreading quickly from one escaped case, (suspected Air Crew) all interstate borders now locked. ABC.. Rnz... News today. 

 

Thailand has over 600 Delta cases and won't lock down Bangkok and they think that the UK will be letting people come box from playing in the sand box without having to quarantine. 

Tools required for sand box stay :

 

Plastic bucket and spade. 

Learn where trees are, hide behind these when drinking on the beach. 

Vendors may be selling banana leaves to disguise yourself if wanting a quick Leo from the seven. 

[Espanol]

8 hours ago, EricTh said:

Just restrict it to a few countries where the virus is well controlled during the past 30 days. We don't want to Indian variant in Thailand.

 

Indian variant is rising fast nown UK, but British tourists are welcome to Phuket

[kiwikeith]

7 hours ago, DjSilver said:

you're wrong in your calculation. A solo traveler might spend arouns 1000 baht/day since that is what I usually spend With wife and daughter we never spend more than 2000 baht/day.

Those who would travel against the advice of the US embassy, risk being infected with Delta while vaccinated, being able to carry that back home, enter without quarantine, disguise themselves as leaves when sneaking a drink from the seven onto the beach, have their heads buried in the sand 

[kiwikeith]

4 minutes ago, Espanol said:

 

Indian variant is rising fast nown UK, but British tourists are welcome to Phuket

Indian variant is now spreading in Thailand, over 600 cases, that was the figure a few days ago. Check your local newspaper for updates on that. 

[champers]

The Beta variant is spreading North from the Southernmost provinces where cases have increased worryingly in the past week. Phuket needs to be as tight as a drum or could be caught in a pincer movement between Delta and Beta.

Edited June 26, 2021 by champers

[Captain Monday]

10 hours ago, 007 RED said:

I'm aware that the Thai MoFA 'streamlined' their CoE procedure earlier this year for most types of visa entries and glad to hear that you got confirmation within 24 hours, but when you applied for your CoE you were not required to provide proof that you had been fully vaccinated with a vaccine which has been approved by the Thai MoH. 

 

Full vaccination, with a vaccine approved by the Thai MoH, is now a fundamental requirement of the Phuket Sandbox Scheme.  As a result potential visitors applying for a CoE (under the Phuket Sandbox Scheme) must now also submit the QR code on their certificate of vaccination to their local Embassy.  The QR code will will then be forwarded to the MoFA in Bangkok (together with the other required details).  The MoFA will then authenticate that the applicant has in fact been fully vaccinated.  Obviously this minor additional entry requirement will take time to verify with the original government body that issued the vaccine certificate bearing in mind time zones etc.

 

Hence given the fact that Embassies are unable to process CoE for the Phuket Sandbox Scheme until Monday 28th at the earliest, it is highly unlikely that anyone will get their CoE before the 1st July.

 

I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall at Phuket airport on the 1st July when the PM, the Governor and 'uncle tom cobbly and all' are their waiting for the non-arrivals.

My coe pre-approval, the part where vaccine info is uploaded, took approximately a few hours US west coast time There is no way the Thai MoH or MoFA could "authenticate" this info, it is a bit of paper that could be faked. There are no vaccination QR codes in the US other than for New York state (a voluntary app you must download)  and the right-wingers are dead set against. In the future it will be all voluntarily as vaccine/ health apps are rolled out by the airlines for international travel.

 

If the info was actually forwarded to the Thai MoFa it would take days at a minimum IMHO and all they could do was check off on the same pic uploaded. The only way to authenticate it in the US would be for me to specifically authorize the Walmart pharmacy in my case  to release my health data to a third party. It is law

 

This is a case where someone believes something to be true then posts it on the internet as fact when it is actually nonsense. We desperately need vaccine passports now. There ARE fake vaccine cards and fake PCR tests are already a big problem.

[merijn]

14 hours ago, pentagara said:

Ah, just learned that Phuket issued a new rule for the sandbox:  If you want to leave the island after quarantine for another province (e.g. Bangkok), you need the following document at checkin at the airport for the domestic flight:

"Proof of COVID-19 test showing that COVID-19 was not detected during the 14-night stay in Phuket with the document issued by an agency of the Ministry of Public Health"

 

In ASQ in Bangkok, this document was sent by mail (postal mail) roughly one week after quarantine was done. At checkout the hotel said that they were very sorry that they can't provide the document at checkout since they didn't get it yet0, they were only able to provide a confirmation by the contract hospital that the quarantine test results were negative. At the time, no one ever cared about this document, also not for travel to other provinces.

 

Now Phuket makes it mandatory if you want to leave the province by air. That of course would be on top to requirements eg. Bangkok sets for entering their province ????

 

If one really needs to go to Thailand now, it actually might be better to choose ASQ instead of the Phuket sandbox. Quite likely cheaper (considering what they charge for tests in Phuket for the sandbox), and also actually can be planned.

Is that your experience or just hear say.

I stayed now 2 times in BKK ASQ hotels and on both occasions I received all the paperwork on check-out.

Besides this I never had to show any of this when flying domestically.

And Phuket didn't make it mandatory to leave Phuket by air, as long you have the papers you can travel any way you want.

Only if you leave Thailand within the 14 days you have to fly from Phuket.

[sezze]

4 hours ago, Espanol said:

 

Thailand is Green zone for European Union now.

 

No restrictions for people returning from Thailand.

When did you last check ? 3 weeks ago it was Green , in the meanwhile it went to Red and last week to Orange , meaning PCR test needed and i think after a few days back another PCR test , but no quarantine ( Red zone is quarantine , Green is free travel  ).

[merijn]

6 minutes ago, sezze said:

When did you last check ? 3 weeks ago it was Green , in the meanwhile it went to Red and last week to Orange , meaning PCR test needed and i think after a few days back another PCR test , but no quarantine ( Red zone is quarantine , Green is free travel  ).

Don't know for other countries but Thailand is still a green country for the Netherlands, so no test required.

[johnmell]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

 

He said that tourists are delaying their travel plans until the last moment and many are waiting for the announcement of Phuket Sandbox regulations in the Government Gazette

Dont think the average tourist knows what the hell the Government Gazette is.

[Henryford]

17 hours ago, skorp13 said:

How do you spend 8.9 million baht in a city that is predominately closed???

8.9 billion

[pookondee]

16 hours ago, 10baht said:

Will real "tourists" coming to play in the sandbox risk being locked down somewhere if they don't pass all their tests? or even register a false positive? Would they risk that and further quarantines in their home country once or if they made it out of forced hospitalization.  Would a real "tourists" risk getting a positive test from the many Thais in the sandbox who may have had only the ineffective Chinese vaccine or only one dose or no dose at all? And pay all those bloated hotel prices for a rainy season “vacation”?

 

I am one of the former long-term stayers, with a life and gf waiting in Thailand.

And yes, im itching to get back.

 

But with all the uncertainties, the risks you mention, AND all those crazy hoops to jump through,

theres no way id even contemplate venturing back under those conditions.

 

If i was just a regular tourist,

ABSOLUTELY positively no way!!!

 

The risk of somehow getting a positive test 

(or false positive) then being forced into some "Covid Prison"

for god knows how long, 

then possibly being extorted for the pleasure.

 

If they think any sane tourist would put themselves through that,  they've got rocks where their brains should be.

 555

 

Admittedly Ive done some crazy things in my time..but no thanks!

 

 

[Thujone]

14 hours ago, lavender19 said:

Probably load up a plane in Bangkok with look a like tourists and fly them in

Good point.

Check to see if any tourists who arrive on the 1st appear to be Thai, have military haircuts, are carrying a bucket and spade, dressed in Songkran shirts.

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Thujone said:

Good point.

Check to see if any tourists who arrive on the 1st appear to be Thai, have military haircuts, are carrying a bucket and spade, dressed in Songkran shirts.

Ah, just like the Chinese government employees and families who came before they started their rotation here at the embassy.

[brianthainess]

I know its been repeated a million times, but what planet do these clowns live on, they just don't have the capacity to think NO ONE wants to come to the country of the un-vaccinated, unless they are just trying to get back in/home to wives/property/girl friends etc. Planet Prayut, sinking below the horizon, may rise again in a few years if it is ever possible to get vaccinated.

[sandyf]

16 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

But isn't Thailand, I mean didn't they post themselves as a red zone yesterday?

It is a bit irrelevant what you or anyone else wants to speculate, the only facts that are applicable to returning Brits are what appear on this website.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england

 

It is almost certain the lifting of self isolation for double jabs from amber countries announcement will come on the 5th August, but whether it will apply to Thailand only time will tell.

[anchadian]

There hasn’t been any mention of a wristband lately for the #PhuketSandbox. It was presumed you would need one if you didn’t own a trackable smartphone. But now there’s this wristband with RFID technology to identify people on boat tours. Will it be handed out at the airport too?

 

https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1408973990530490368

 

[Lazybones]

20 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Can't wait to see the real numbers (if we ever see any) but of course all the Reporters, TV Crews, Agents, Flight Crews, Bus Drivers and any returning Residents will all be included in the 'Tourist' numbers for good measure.

No mention of the 70% vaccination lately!

[Rimmer]

Troll post has been removed

[Dukeleto]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

But they would still spend 8.9 billion baht, he maintained. 

Are you sure? This time? orgs there going to be a back track and flip flop? Personally  I think you are about 8 billion over  the actual figure but thats par for the course with Thai estimates same same with quotes for work!

[clivebaxter]

1 hour ago, Lazybones said:

No mention of the 70% vaccination lately!

Or the millions of vaccines a certain Thai company promised to be delivering

[GeilGeilertzen]

21 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Ooooh, this is so exciting, I'm nearly wetting myself in anticipation, I really can't wait too see how they're gonna spin this when at most they have a plane load of journalists on a freebie gizzit trip and hardly any fare paying tourists ????????????

Haven’t you heard of cardboard tourists?

The same football fans you see these days plastered around empty football stadiums. 
That’s how you spin it off ????????

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

Or the millions of vaccines a certain Thai company promised to be delivering

The shock and horror of the total task at hand is slowly settling in.  Keys can be heard being fumbled for in pockets, and midnight calls being made to reserve a place to hide when the shiitee hits the fan.  Meanwhile those in Bangkok will be kept from having a meal and a beer in the restaurants starting Monday, while the Phuket sandbox folks will enjoy it to their hearts delight.  Something feels a little off to me, when you shuffle vaccines to open up tourism, but still do not have the numbers espoused as being fully vaccinated, while you shut migrant construction camps down and the adjoining work sites here in Bangkok yet still require the 90 days reports to be done by said foreign workers at the local immigration offices where they stack in like cordwood.  How does one condone causing businesses in the capital to be irreparably harmed while you throw a life line to a tourist destination and hope to hell it works.  I will pray that the implosion this government is seeking is a quiet one as it flushes them all for failing the people, sort of like the UK Health Advisor Hancock......tools they all truly are.

[NanLaew]

17 hours ago, billd766 said:

22 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Here we go again. The assumption that the shortcomings of the early Bangkok ASQ that was handling a whole lot more visitors will automatically be repeated in the Phuket sandbox.

 

You guys are too funny. Predictable but funny.

Now I would have classed them as more realistic, considering that many of them have been in Thailand for a long time.

 

But so have I @billd766, so have I.

 

17 hours ago, billd766 said:

18 hours ago, shdmn said:

Lol all the butthurt comments here from the doom mongers being proven wrong yet again, still cheerleading for failure.

How are they proven wrong?

 

Because Phuket's sandbox hasn't been opened yet.

 

Doh!

 

[ChipButty]

49 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

But so have I @billd766, so have I.

 

 

Because Phuket's sandbox hasn't been opened yet.

 

Doh!

 

More like Pandora's box 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

But so have I @billd766, so have I.

 

 

Because Phuket's sandbox hasn't been opened yet.

 

Doh!

 

Of course Phuket has not opened yet, partly because the governor of Phuket, the CCSA, several ministers and ministries plus the PM keep changing the rules.

 

All of this should have been sorted out and locked into place by 14th June at the very latest, but there are too many chiefs sticking their oar in and shouting louder than anybody else.

 

Has Phuket reached the 70% herd immunity yet?

Are there enough vaccines available?

 

What really p****s me off is that most of the local news is Phuket this, Phuket that.

 

Why don't they try to understand that Phuket is NOT the whole of Thailand and there are millions of Thais who don't give a stuff about a piddley island in the far south of Thailand.

 

All over the country there are shortages of vaccines, especially in the rural areas where less than 10% have been vaccinated.

 

Do you think that if Phuket kicks off as well as it is hoped, that other parts of Thailand will see any of the money that is made?

 

Phuket is an island and relatively easy to control.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket_Province

 

Phuket Province has an area of 576 km2 (222 sq mi), somewhat less than that of Singapore, and is the second-smallest province of Thailand. 

 

Population (2019) Total    416,582

[GrandPapillon]

I can't wait for Wed announcement when they cancel the whole plan to save face ????

[ChipButty]

I cant wait for our esteemed members of TVF who will arrive on the first please let us know