FILE PHOTO: People receive the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine as the Thai resort island of Phuket rushes to vaccinate its population amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, and ahead of a July 1 ending of strict quarantine for overseas visitors, to bring back tourism revenue in Phuket, Thailand, April 2, 2021. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Visitors to Thailand's resort island of Phuket in July were at just 1% of pre-pandemic levels, an official told Reuters, as a bid to revive tourism to the Southeast Asian country gets off to a slow start amid its biggest COVID-19 outbreak yet.

 

The island re-opened last month under the "Phuket Sandbox" programme to fully-vaccinated tourists who could skip Thailand's mandatory two week quarantine provided they remained on Phuket, where tourism accounts for 90% of the local economy.

 

Nearly 15,000 people visited the island from overseas in July, Phuket Tourist Association president Bhummikitti Ruktaengam told Reuters, equivalent to just over 450 foreign arrivals a day.

 

"In the past, we were looking at 43,000 daily arrivals, so what we got was 1% of normality," he said. "1% in business terms is not ok, but 1% also gives hope," he added. "We're seeing the light. It's encouraging."

 

Tourism before the pandemic was a key driver of Thailand's economy, accounting for 12% of GDP. In 2019, the country welcomed 40 million foreign arrivals, of which 10 million visited Phuket.

 

The Finance Ministry recently slashed its forecast for foreign arrivals to 300,000, down from an earlier prediction of 2 million.

 

Phuket has kept infections low with a 7-day average of 35 cases compared with the national average of 18,400. However, the number of people with bookings for August stood at just 9,000 so far, Bhummikitti said, as Thailand grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases.

 

On Wednesday, the health ministry reported 20,200 new coronavirus cases and 188 additional deaths, both of which were record highs.

 

"People looking from overseas will see that the numbers are scary," Bhummikitti said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-08-04

 

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That's a surprise.

20 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"People looking from overseas will see that the numbers are scary," Bhummikitti said.

People from overseas aren't worried about that number.  We've been living with bigger, scarier numbers for over a year.  We're no more at risk of Covid in Phuket than we are at home in London, Houston, or Paris.  (Maybe not Sydney, but they're not allowed out to play anyway)

 

What fully vaccinated tourists worry about is the odds of being whisked off the plane and into involuntary quarantine, and the risk that EVERYTHING will be shut down when we arrive.

 

The currently CoE requirement will stop 99% of vaccinated tourists. If you want more tourists, make sure everyone is vaccinated, so no family with children, they can wait for the second stage of opening. Then make sure only a vaccine certificate is required to apply CoE. Then you may see more adventurous tourists. Be selective, yet be more open, I wonder if the Thai government agencies can do this?

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"We're seeing the light. It's encouraging."

Lip service?

 

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The Finance Ministry recently slashed its forecast for foreign arrivals to 300,000, down from an earlier prediction of 2 million.

Amazing!!!

7 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The Finance Ministry recently slashed its forecast for foreign arrivals to 300,000, down from an earlier prediction of 2 million.

Personally I think that number is about 200,000 plus over reality. 10-15k to Phuket in July only and with the pandemic running riot now due to bad management, I cannot see more than 10-15k a month moving forwards.

 

Open up fully to ALL vaccinated people showing an app at boarding or check in and run with it. Anything more and its a waste of time and a failure 

26 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Personally I think that number is about 200,000 plus over reality. 10-15k to Phuket in July only and with the pandemic running riot now due to bad management, I cannot see more than 10-15k a month moving forwards.

 

Open up fully to ALL vaccinated people showing an app at boarding or check in and run with it. Anything more and its a waste of time and a failure 

Fully agree.

 

Also needs to get rid of quarantine protocol for fully vaccinated. Self isolate in paid hotel instead. SHA+ hotels must have a dedicated floor or wings for arrivals that may need self isolate. Only those with symptoms need to go to ASQ hotels or hospital. 

 

Otherwise tourist will choose somewhere else. There are plenty to choose now. Majority of Caribbean is sort of open. UAE, Maldives, and most of Europe is open. Phuket needs to do a comprehensive research into today's vaccinated travellers to see what needs to be done to lure them. Half measure does not work.

No more "tourists" ??? I just do not think many were "real" tourists in the first place. 

why even have a COE? cannot the immigration officer at the airport check the paperwork?  Some Phuket hotels allow cancellations one day before arrival so how does submitting a hotel reservation  weeks before your arrival to get a COE prove anything?

10 hours ago, ChC1 said:

The currently CoE requirement will stop 99% of vaccinated tourists. If you want more tourists, make sure everyone is vaccinated, so no family with children, they can wait for the second stage of opening. Then make sure only a vaccine certificate is required to apply CoE. Then you may see more adventurous tourists. Be selective, yet be more open, I wonder if the Thai government agencies can do this?

Why no children? They have much more natural immunity than adults so, as far as I  know, are no more riskier than vaccinated adults. 

I don't see the point of all the testing, if tourists are fully vaccinated they are worse than locals. One test before flying in and then 3 lateral flow tests after arrival should do. 8000 baht for pcr tests is way over the top and cost us (3 of us) more than the hotel. It is far more important to keep out any new more dangerous strains than worrying about a few more cases brought in by tourists/returnees. 

COE is a big deterrent, I told my mate not to even think about tryptophan come with us because of it. Although I doubt anyone would be refused it there is a real perceived risk in having to prebook everything including insurance before even passing the first stage. As even the hotel and testing is non refundable and flights can only be changed not refunded it is a big commitment. If he could have had his itinerary passed and then booked accordingly that would be much better. There is also the need to self isolate before flying as you don't want to get infected before the fit to fly test. 

Next they have to guarantee onward travel is available as most of us have other places to that we have to go to. 

I was told no beer with my meal yesterday. Not a big deal but why? We were the only people in the restaurant, 2 adults and a kid. Bars maybe but restaurants - pointless. Then there is the wearing of masks outside. The last figure I heard was masks reduce transmission by 30% indoors. Outdoors I thought the concensus was that they did nothing except if people could not keep apart in such places as stadiums. Until they can promote these sandbox islands as restriction free tourists are not coming. Just an alcohol ban will stop them yet alone all the other nonsense. 

Surely this must be fake news !! 
Quick someone get TAT new calculator batteries . ????

15 minutes ago, gim12 said:

why even have a COE? cannot the immigration officer at the airport check the paperwork?  Some Phuket hotels allow cancellations one day before arrival so how does submitting a hotel reservation  weeks before your arrival to get a COE prove anything?

The hotels are not refundable for the COE even if booked on sites that say they are like booking.com.

holiday inn refunded my reservation in full

It will only get worse, too many cant do against can do.

29 minutes ago, 10baht said:

No more "tourists" ??? I just do not think many were "real" tourists in the first place. 

Depends on your definition of tourist. We are here so that we can eventually visit the in-laws for a couple of weeks but we also spend around 3 weeks doing tourist things like a beach holiday - often with the in-laws. There do appear to be some genuine tourists here as well (can't understand why though). 

3 hours ago, ChC1 said:

Phuket needs to do a comprehensive research into today's vaccinated travellers to see what needs to be done to lure them.

One thing that always strikes me is that they never seem to look at travellers' concerns at all when they come up with these schemes. I fully realize that ultimately Thailand's own needs will always determine what its policies are, but there should at least be someone at the table saying, "you know, this idea you're proposing will be totally off-putting to potential tourists. Is it really necessary?" My impression is that there is currently no such person - just a bunch of representatives from different parts of the bureaucracy pushing their own agendas based on grossly inaccurate ideas of what visitors want and will tolerate.

6 minutes ago, gim12 said:

holiday inn refunded my reservation in full

Did you have a COE though? Ours wanted full payment for the room, tests and airport transfer before giving us the SHABA certificate. 

7 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

One thing that always strikes me is that they never seem to look at travellers' concerns at all when they come up with these schemes. I fully realize that ultimately Thailand's own needs will always determine what its policies are, but there should at least be someone at the table saying, "you know, this idea you're proposing will be totally off-putting to potential tourists. Is it really necessary?" My impression is that there is currently no such person - just a bunch of representatives from different parts of the bureaucracy pushing their own agendas based on grossly inaccurate ideas of what visitors want and will tolerate.

This should be what TAT is for. Instead of pulling fanciful numbers out of nowhere they should go to Phuket and talk to us and put suggestions forward. Simple things like metered taxis would work wonders. Happy holidaymakers returning home with tales of good times are the best way to get arrivals up. Me going home saying I didn't bother going to the bars in Patong because it would cost 800 Baht in taxi vans for what a Bangkok taxi could do for around 200-300 Baht, will only build up resistance which was happening long before covid19. 

So 1% of normality is see the light? Wow if it had been 10% we would have had to cover our eyes.

I predict it will get worse

A friend recently arrived on Samui for the sandbox scheme. Even though he has been tested four times, he was confined to his hotel room for 7 days. He kept asking for a reason, he kept insisting that he came due to the promise of being able to leave his hotel after 3 days, yet all he got was imprisonment in his hotel.

 

Word gets around, there are too many travel forums, Thailand already has a black eye in regard to tourism, and many problems existed long before Covid came along. So, now with the extremely long closure period, the inconsistency policy, the draconian restrictions, word getting out about improperly enforced policy and inconsistencies, it is only going to get worse.

 

The bottom line is that the industry has been decimated to the point where it almost appears to be a form of sabotage and sadism, and it will NEVER recover. We may see as many as 5 million tourists a year in five or ten years. Maybe. 

I think the majority of so called tourists arriving in Phuket  are people who either live or work in Thailand 

What real tourist is going to go through the hassle of getting here then finds nothing open no alcohol  ect  for 2 weeks or longer ????

Effectively shut themselves in the foot, they get a few foreign tourists but the majority are people wanting to return to Thailand without spending the whole time stuck in a hotel room. Now they have blocked off the island to all local tourism

13 hours ago, impulse said:

and the risk that EVERYTHING will be shut down when we arrive.

What risk? It's a certainty at the moment!

12 minutes ago, Guderian said:

What risk? It's a certainty at the moment!

At the moment yes, but it wasn't when they booked.  They were promised some openness that they haven't had.  TAT always misses that tourists don't book today and arrive tomorrow, most book months in advance and expect things to be as they were when they booked.

Though why anyone in their right mind would leave their home country for a holiday at the moment beats me.  Way too much changes too fast to have a reasonable chance of things going as you expect.

2 hours ago, chang1 said:

Depends on your definition of tourist. We are here so that we can eventually visit the in-laws for a couple of weeks but we also spend around 3 weeks doing tourist things like a beach holiday - often with the in-laws. There do appear to be some genuine tourists here as well (can't understand why though). 

if you are visiting your in-law.. that is not going on vacation. it is a family trip.

sure they are few tourists but most are reporter writing for their own paper like Alison Fox from Travel leisure  magazine..

 

Of the 15.000 how many were using the sandbox as a stepping stone.

He said 1% in business is not ok but 1% also gives hope he added we're seeing the light its encouraging, He is amazing hopefully the light he is seeing is the headlights of the Karma bus about to run him over, obviously in his 15,000 arrivals he's taken into account, returning expats, Thai nationals, Journalists, they just cant help themselves never let the truth get in the way of a good story

17 hours ago, impulse said:

People from overseas aren't worried about that number.  We've been living with bigger, scarier numbers for over a year.  We're no more at risk of Covid in Phuket than we are at home in London, Houston, or Paris.  (Maybe not Sydney, but they're not allowed out to play anyway)

 

What fully vaccinated tourists worry about is the odds of being whisked off the plane and into involuntary quarantine, and the risk that EVERYTHING will be shut down when we arrive.

 

That is it, in a nutshell. That applies to me and my friends who regularly (used to) "Snowbird" in Thailand.

Fully vaxxed here in UK, things are nearly back to full normality, meanwhile in Thailand........

11 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Personally I think that number is about 200,000 plus over reality. 10-15k to Phuket in July only and with the pandemic running riot now due to bad management, I cannot see more than 10-15k a month moving forwards.

 

Open up fully to ALL vaccinated people showing an app at boarding or check in and run with it. Anything more and its a waste of time and a failure 

Right, they would all be fully vaccinated (with working vaccines), what could go wrong?