Phuket Sandbox: US and UK tourists top latest figures - July spending 1.9 billion baht

[webfact]

Reuters file photo for reference only

 

Latest figures from the Centre for Covid Situation Administration  (CCSA) as reported by Bangkok Business news revealed the top ten nations providing tourists to the Phuket Sandbox reopening of Thailand scheme. 

 

From July 1st to 14th August the total number of tourists has been 20,727 of which 6,672 are currently still on the holiday island. 

 

The top ten and numbers of tourists are as follows:

 

1. USA 2,759

2. UK 2,712

3. Israel 2,250

4. Germany 1,617

5. France 1,607

6. UAE 775

7. Switzerland 467

8. Netherlands 446

9. Australia 361

10. Kuwait 327

 

Top destinations for onward travel were Bangkok, Surat Thani, Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khirikhan and Chonburi. 

 

Average stay was just over 11 days. 

 

July money brought into the economy was 1.9 billion baht. This raised 87 million in tax. 

 

So far in the first six weeks of the scheme only 57 tourists or 0.27% of the total have tested positive for Covid-19. 

 

You may find a full directory of the SHA Plus+ Phuket Sandbox hotels here

 

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[Pedrogaz]

Lipstick on a pig?????

[Paul Henry]

My understanding is that the Australian international border is still closed except in a very few cases. ie.

Compassionate grounds, I am sure the 361 Australians would not class themselves as tourists as the Australian Federal Govt would not let them out or back into the country.

[JimHuaHin]

As far as I am aware, Australians are still now not allowed to travel overseas for tourism, so where did the 361 Australians come from?

[ChC1]

Maybe expat from UAE or Singapore? Or those who has a home in Thailand but work in Europe or USA? Some of the Aussies could have taken advantage of the New Zealand bubble while it was OK to travel via New Zealand as New Zealand has no exit control?

[ThailandRyan]

32 minutes ago, JimHuaHin said:

As far as I am aware, Australians are still now not allowed to travel overseas for tourism, so where did the 361 Australians come from?

Residents of Thailand with a waiver perhaps? who knows.  Saw an interesting YouTube Video on a gentleman in Koh Samui who spent 350k Baht in one day, paying it forward as he says, but that was back in March, and he is still collecting money from donors to his channel and continuing to help out those less fortunate.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

op destinations for onward travel were Bangkok, Surat Thani, Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khirikhan and Chonburi

Really ?

[ThailandRyan]

7+7 Sandbox is a go....travel safely you Sandbox tourists or expats returning home.

[RichardColeman]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

July money brought into the economy was 1.9 billion baht.

if you knock off say 500-1000 baht for a room these people are supposedly calculated at spending near 7500-8000 baht a day, I simply don't believe it during a  semi lockdown

[DoctorB]

5 hours ago, Paul Henry said:

My understanding is that the Australian international border is still closed except in a very few cases. ie.

Compassionate grounds, I am sure the 361 Australians would not class themselves as tourists as the Australian Federal Govt would not let them out or back into the country.

A friend returning from Oz to Pattaya reported that it was not particularly difficult to get permission to leave. He had to give a reason, (in his case to deal with a financial matter, so not on compassionate grouns), and promise to stay away for at least 3 months. Not a tourist by the usual defintion; just a regular keen to get back to his condo.

[Uroller]

No travel in or out of Australia???? Like to see more details on these numbers and how they came up with them????

[impulse]

12 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

Lipstick on a pig?????

Nope.  Just warming it up and dialing it in, getting Phuket ready for the first gonad freezing cold snap in Europe.

[DrDave]

6 hours ago, Uroller said:

No travel in or out of Australia???? Like to see more details on these numbers and how they came up with them????

I think those number were pulled from somewhere other than a hat.

 

1.9 billion baht / 13,321 arrivals / 11 day average stay  =  approximately 13,000 baht/day. (or about 400 USD, and 209 GBP per day) for each and every arrival.

Backing out 1,000 baht/day for the SHA+ hotel, that leaves 12,000 baht/day for a single traveler, which seems awfully high especially at this time.

Now, considering each member of a family is counted as an arrival, that implies that a family of 4 would be spending a whopping 52,000 baht per day in order to achieve the 1.9 billion total spend they're claiming.

Edited August 16, 2021 by DrDave

[hioctane]

27 minutes ago, DrDave said:

I think those number were pulled from somewhere other than a hat.

 

1.9 billion baht / 13,321 arrivals / 11 day average stay  =  approximately 13,000 baht/day. (or about 400 USD, and 209 GBP per day) for each and every arrival.

Backing out 1,000 baht/day for the SHA+ hotel, that leaves 12,000 baht/day for a single traveler, which seems awfully high especially at this time.

Now, considering each member of a family is counted as an arrival, that implies that a family of 4 would be spending a whopping 52,000 baht per day in order to achieve the 1.9 billion total spend they're claiming.

Where did you get your, 13321 from?

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, DrDave said:

I think those number were pulled from somewhere other than a hat.

 

1.9 billion baht / 13,321 arrivals / 11 day average stay  =  approximately 13,000 baht/day. (or about 400 USD, and 209 GBP per day) for each and every arrival.

Backing out 1,000 baht/day for the SHA+ hotel, that leaves 12,000 baht/day for a single traveler, which seems awfully high especially at this time.

Now, considering each member of a family is counted as an arrival, that implies that a family of 4 would be spending a whopping 52,000 baht per day in order to achieve the 1.9 billion total spend they're claiming.

Remember 25% probably is from the PCR mandatory tests and then some more for those moved into ALQ's that were positive.

[EVENKEEL]

For now the Sandbox return is the lesser of 2 evils for returning expats. If I was simply a tourist I'm not sure I would jump thru all the hoops but like myself I want to leave Thailand and return to US for short while and return. Except for the high season hotel rates coming up it's not a bad option.

 

Just so many steps to be taken for return to Thailand.

[DrDave]

4 hours ago, hioctane said:

Where did you get your, 13321 from?

The sum of the arrivals by country in the OP.  The actual number is a little higher, as these are only the top 10 countries - however the number of arrivals from any other country would be less than 300 each.

 

So lets err on the side of overstating arrivals for the month of July and assume 15,000. The daily spend per arrival would then be 11,500 baht (360USD). For a couple it would be 23,000 baht (720 USD)/day and 46,000 baht (1,400 USD) per day for a family of 4. Still ridiculous numbers.

 

Even using the implied number of 21,000 arrivals  (57 infections / .27% of arrivals as stated in the OP), the numbers are 8,200 single, 16,400 couple and 32,800 baht per day. I think it would be difficult for most tourists (especially couples and families) to spend consistently at this daily level considering nearly all entertainment venues have been closed.

 

I find it hard to believe that when using the implied arrival figure of 21,000 over 7,500 of these arrivals (36%) came from countries other than the top 10. That would imply 300 arrivals from an additional 25 countries each. However we know that these arrival numbers would taper off as we work down through the list of countries, so there would have to be considerably more than 25 additional countries.

Edited August 17, 2021 by DrDave

[DrDave]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Remember 25% probably is from the PCR mandatory tests and then some more for those moved into ALQ's that were positive.

Assuming a cost of 3,000 baht for a PCR test, the total for 3 tests would be 9,000 baht. Over 11 days, this is 820 baht/day or 7% of implied daily spend.

As for revenues generated from a forced ALQ stay, these people won't be spending money on anything other than their ALQ room and maybe a little extra food, but nowhere near the implied daily spend.

[EVENKEEL]

7 minutes ago, DrDave said:

Assuming a cost of 3,000 baht for a PCR test, the total for 3 tests would be 9,000 baht. Over 11 days, this is 820 baht/day or 7% of implied daily spend.

As for revenues generated from a forced ALQ stay, these people won't be spending money on anything other than their ALQ room and maybe a little extra food, but nowhere near the implied daily spend.

Cost of 3 tests is 8000 tbh and if you want fast test a bit more

[skatewash]

12 hours ago, Uroller said:

No travel in or out of Australia???? Like to see more details on these numbers and how they came up with them????

Australian nationals not currently in Australia.