PHUKET (NNT) - Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revised the conditions of the Phuket "sandbox" program, reducing the duration of the mandatory stay in Phuket to seven days, while allowing tourists to spend the following seven days on "Sealed Routes" in five other provinces.

 

Tourism and Sports Minister Phlipat Ratchakitprakarn said he has consulted the prime minister about launching the "Sealed Routes", using Phuket as a hub from which tourists can expand their travel to other provinces.

 

He said tourists will have to spend seven days on Phuket and take the COVID-19 test twice, before they are allowed to travel through these sealed routes in Krabi, Phang-nga and Samui, which will open for tourists in August, while Chiang Mai and Lamphun will open in October.

 

Mr. Phlipat added that Hua Hin district, in Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Cha-am in Phetchaburi province are expected to welcome foreign tourists from October 1st. Bangkok and Pattaya, which are still "dark red" zones, will remain closed until the fourth quarter. Buri Ram province will also remain closed, with the cancellation of the Thailand Motorcycle Grand Prix.

 

Planning to visit Phuket? Book your Sandbox hotel here

 

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1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Mr. Phlipat added that Hua Hin district, in Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Cha-am in Phetchaburi province are expected to welcome foreign tourists from October 1st

A direct contradiction of something else that came out today.

 

Cases go up; mandatory stay goes down.

Is there anyone manning the bridge?  Honestly.
 

2 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

Cases go up; mandatory stay goes down.

Is there anyone manning the bridge?  Honestly.
 

Since tourists are not the source of Covid-19, but local transmission, may be they want to take them out from Phuket to a safer place before they get infected. ????

Maybe they want them out quickly as they do not have enough hotel rooms spare in Phuket ????

9 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

Cases go up; mandatory stay goes down.

Is there anyone manning the bridge?  Honestly.
 

Plus, an announcement by the tourism minister, so is this an idea or an authorized policy?

 

 

 

Phang Nga from August to October. I get my rain coat...

Hotdoggy,  the lunatics are running the asylum! 

 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revised the conditions

Dear Thailand Ministry of Tourism, 

 

Call back when you've got COVID under control and decent vaccines on the ground. 

 

Bye for now...

Head in the sand box. Its impossible to move anywhere.

"Mr. Phlipat added that Hua Hin district, in Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Cha-am in Phetchaburi province are expected to welcome foreign tourists from October 1st. Bangkok and Pattaya, which are still "dark red" zones, will remain closed until the fourth quarter. Buri Ram province will also remain closed, with the cancellation of the Thailand Motorcycle Grand Prix. "

Can somebody inform me when October 1st some zones will open , and Bangkok and Pattaya will remain closed until FOURTH QUARTER ? Now forgive me for being stupid but 4th q in my book starts October 1st .

So they can use the hotels as hospitals. 

Phuket get ready for the impeding complete lockdown, just in time for high season. 

3 minutes ago, inThailand said:

Phuket get ready for the impeding complete lockdown, just in time for high season. 

 

 

You would have to be pretty stupid to think that.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revised the conditions of the Phuket "sandbox" program, reducing the duration of the mandatory stay in Phuket to seven days, while allowing tourists to spend the following seven days on "Sealed Routes" in five other provinces.

Get the money quick before they drop...?

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Mr. Phlipat added that Hua Hin district, in Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Cha-am in Phetchaburi province are expected to welcome foreign tourists from October 1st. Bangkok and Pattaya, which are still "dark red" zones, will remain closed until the fourth quarter.

I'm starting to get the impression he's stuck in his own sealed bubble.

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

Plus, an announcement by the tourism minister, so is this an idea or an authorized policy?

 

 

 

Yeah it's one of his dreams.

13 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

Cases go up; mandatory stay goes down.

Is there anyone manning the bridge?  Honestly.
 

" Thaitanic "

15 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

You would have to be pretty stupid to think that.

You don't live here or were here last year when they locked us down with no booze sales? History will repeat its self. 

13 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

" Thaitanic "

One would be better off in the Ark! Remember, the Ark was built by ametures. The Titanic was built by professionals.

Bravo. For the fully vaccinated tourist should one test after arrival and done.

 

Time to cut the baloney and open the country.

13 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

Cases go up; mandatory stay goes down.

Is there anyone manning the bridge?  Honestly.
 

Nope.

The Captain abandoned the sinking ship a long time ago. 

 

Maybe they've heard about the tourists leaving Phuket (and Thailand) early because they're bored; hoping they'll decide to get bored elsewhere in Thailand!

The Lunatics really are running the Asylum.

Just another sign of the inability to plan anything correctly and stay with the plan. There is an old saying which applies to all the government bureaucrats in Thailand. Do they have 50 years experience or one years experience 50 times. 

2 minutes ago, Paul Henry said:

Just another sign of the inability to plan anything correctly and stay with the plan. There is an old saying which applies to all the government bureaucrats in Thailand. Do they have 50 years experience or one years experience 50 times. 

7 days and two tests. That was the plan before it was low-jacked by the "Close the Borders Forever" brigade.

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

You would have to be pretty stupid to think that.

Why would have to be pretty stupid to think that. It would seem that conditions that are decided get changed as the days go on. When will they realise that the number of cases in a week will continue to rise unless they do something about it !!

15 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

Cases go up; mandatory stay goes down.

Is there anyone manning the bridge?  Honestly.
 

It just gets funnier by the minute 5555555555555555555555555555

Most of the comments are criticisms  without any realistic alternative ideas. Making Phuket a hub for International tourist arrivals and reducing compulsory stay to 7 days is a good way to enter Samui afterwards provided all restrictions lifted in Samui

2 hours ago, inThailand said:

You don't live here or were here last year when they locked us down with no booze sales? History will repeat its self. 

Lmao about no booze sales. The question is, do you actually live here? Duty free Booze has been readily available via third party sellers on Facebook that smuggle it in and via Wishbeer throughout the entirety of covid. I literally was ordering full pallets of wine and kegs of beer off Facebook and Wish and having them delivered to my house in Phuket from Bangkok ( free delivery too ). Whenever they “ban alcohol” in Thailand, you can also just order Grab food delivery and have the Grab guy go buy wine at Central or beer at 711. You just pay him cash outside of Grab + a little tip. And tbh, most restaurants in Phuket never stopped serving alcohol. You just need to know how to ask. They serve it to you in foam cups.

 

I swear a lot of people on here don’t actually live in Thailand. If you think it’s difficult to get alcohol in Thailand…yikes. 
 

Honestly, covid has upped Thailand’s online delivery game in a big way. I literally just do everything online now and have it delivered for a few baht. It’s also great because all the farms and fisherman have moved to Facebook too. So you can order fresh produce and ocean catch directly from the source at like an 80% discount. I now have this local fisherman, he just goes out in the ocean every morning and catches me Jumbo Tiger Prawn and sea bass daily. 500 baht for 1kg of Tiger Prawn. Would cost 2500 baht at Central and 4000 baht at a Phuket eatery. 
 

And I’m ordering fresh organic produce online directly from the farmers in Krabi and they deliver it to me every two days. It’s so insanely cheap compared to buying organic from Central or Villa. I’m like buying 10kg organic veggies a week for 2000 baht or something. It’s pennies compared to store bought ( prob 20,000 baht for 10kg ). And the store bought isn’t even fresh.

 

Seems like those that aren’t tech savvy and don’t understand how to use online shopping are missing out in a big way. But I mean…alcohol has never been difficult to get here. Never.