TAT chief admits Sandbox Q3 target out of reach - but says 26,000 visitors so far is a good start

[webfact]

file photo: Reuters

 

The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Yutthasak Suphasorn admitted to the Thai media that his ambitious target of 100,000 foreign visitors to the Phuket Sandbox in the third quarter would not be met. 

 

With one month to go in the third quarter (July to September) and two months completed there have been 26,400 foreign visitors so far. 

 

Of these 83 tested positive for Covid-19, most as a result of the first test said Yutthasak.

 

He noted that with one month left the target would not be met pointing to Thailand being in the grip of infection and other countries like the US and those in Europe imposing travel restrictions and advisories. 

 

But he told Bangkok Business News that the Phuket Sandbox had been a good success that had raised confidence among local Thais and foreigners.

 

On average people had spent 11-12 days on the island and 400 hotels had benefitted in the Sandbox.

 

"Despite the many obstacles we faced we have inspired confidence and are now ready for the challenges of the fourth quarter and first quarter of next year", he said adding that he would be working with tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan to promote tourism in the high season period.

 

Interestingly, ASEAN NOW notes, he made no predictions for high season numbers or if he did BBN did not report them.

 

In their report the phrase in Thai that said the target for Q3 would not be met had an unusual exclamation mark! 

 

A slip of the keyboard, perhaps, but many online will say that "we told you so" and that 100,000 visitors was always a pipedream. 

 

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[smedly]

The prediction number I believe was actually 300,000 

 

I also notice no predictions from TAT about future numbers (strange for them) so one would assume the whole thing has flopped like many said it would

 

Is there a lesson to be learned - there is but will they listen

 

Drop all the red tape on fully vaccinated foreign tourists from certain countries, also need to open up tourist businesses but Thailand is not ready for that considering the vaccine situation in Thailand

[Chivas]

Seriously why are they even bothering with this nonsense over Phuket

They need to grasp in very short order that no foreign tourists will come whilst extensive restrictions are in place

 

Ignore that everything is virtually shut anyway Thailand needs to fully understand that 99% of tourists are not coming until they can arrive at Suvarnabhumbi with just a Covid Certificate, Passport and a smile

 

Until that happens Thailands tourist industry doesn't exist

[Geoffggi]

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

Seriously why are they even bothering with this nonsense over Phuket

They need to grasp in very short order that no foreign tourists will come whilst extensive restrictions are in place

 

Ignore that everything is virtually shut anyway Thailand needs to fully understand that 99% of tourists are not coming until they can arrive at Suvarnabhumbi with just a Covid Certificate, Passport and a smile

 

Until that happens Thailands tourist industry doesn't exist

All perfectly correct, in addition, people need to be able to go out and enjoy themselves which in turn means travelling, eating & drinking without restrictions

[khunPer]

26,000 visitors so far is a good start...????

- then nobody loses face when the remaining 74,000-94,000 tourists don't arrive in September, i.e. predicted 120,000 arrivals in 3rd quarter, later adjusted to only 100,000...????

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

A slip of the keyboard, perhaps, but many online will say that "we told you so" and that 100,000 visitors was always a pipedream. 

Pipedreams appear to be a qualification for entry to the TAT !

 

We all knew that it would be used for entry to the country for people that really really needed to get back and then it would dry up. The TAT are useless at predictions, maybe they should read comments on here first before making statements and looking stupid

[Pedrogaz]

Why did TAT) set a totally unrealistic target to begin with? It was not achievable and thus made the sandbox a failure in everyone's eyes. 

[BusyB]

6 hours ago, smedly said:

The prediction number I believe was actually 300,000 

 

I also notice no predictions from TAT about future numbers (strange for them) so one would assume the whole thing has flopped like many said it would

 

Is there a lesson to be learned - there is but will they listen

 

Drop all the red tape on fully vaccinated foreign tourists from certain countries, also need to open up tourist businesses but Thailand is not ready for that considering the vaccine situation in Thailand

It may have flopped in terms of numbers (which were always unrealistic) but it has proven that vaccinated foreigners can safely enter and are not the problem ... and it allows people like me to get into the country long term without onerous and expensive 15 day ASQ in BKK.

[superal]

There are certain areas of Thailand that rely heavily on tourism , Phuket being one . Without tourism Phuket folks are in big trouble money wise . There is little if any government welfare support . Now that the initial sandbox phase has gone , coupled with the UK red zone on Thailand , plus the widely criticised vaccine rollout , the future for Phuket is looking bleak .  Could it be that by forecasting reasonable levels of tourism to the island , it will appease the local population ?  However , what will happen when reality happens in the coming months ?

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Yutthasak Suphasorn admitted to the Thai media that his ambitious target of 100,000 foreign visitors to the Phuket Sandbox in the third quarter would not be met. 

 

With one month to go in the third quarter (July to September) and two months completed there have been 26,400 foreign visitors so far.

So 75% drop in expectations.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, Chivas said:

Seriously why are they even bothering with this nonsense over Phuket

They need to grasp in very short order that no foreign tourists will come whilst extensive restrictions are in place

 

Ignore that everything is virtually shut anyway Thailand needs to fully understand that 99% of tourists are not coming until they can arrive at Suvarnabhumbi with just a Covid Certificate, Passport and a smile

 

Until that happens Thailands tourist industry doesn't exist

 

4 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

All perfectly correct, in addition, people need to be able to go out and enjoy themselves which in turn means travelling, eating & drinking without restrictions

And don't forget Thais being fully vaccinated too... which would then negate the need for a sandbox scheme.

[MrJ2U]

The governor said the COVID-19 situation amongst the population in Phuket was "Critical" two days ago.

 

Whats the situation now?

 

Have they ignored the governor and say, "Come on in and enjoy yourselves".

 

A headline like that would give me second thoughts of going.

 

 

 

 

[Albert Zweistein]

But how much did they spent ?

[DrDave]

According to today's statistics listed on the TAT news website, 521  international passengers arrived at HKT on September 2.  This is across 6 flights with a total seating capacity of 1,459.

That's a passenger load of only 36%, and no airline will sustain that kind of loss for any length of time. This in combination with what appears to be a declining rate of booked SHA+ room-nights doesn't bode well for the program under the existing rules and regulations.

[Khun Yogi]

22 hours ago, Chivas said:

Seriously why are they even bothering with this nonsense over Phuket

They need to grasp in very short order that no foreign tourists will come whilst extensive restrictions are in place

 

Ignore that everything is virtually shut anyway Thailand needs to fully understand that 99% of tourists are not coming until they can arrive at Suvarnabhumbi with just a Covid Certificate, Passport and a smile

 

Until that happens Thailands tourist industry doesn't exist

The Sand pit has been a WOFTAM. And l agree with the above comment. Meanwhile other tourist destinations have been starved of funding and vaccines just so officials can justify there job over a pipe dream.

[Espanol]

8 hours ago, DrDave said:

That's a passenger load of only 36%, and no airline will sustain that kind of loss for any length of time.

And, since about 40-50% of passengers are residents staying in Thailand, return flights are probably at about 20% of capacity. 

[DrDave]

5 hours ago, Espanol said:

And, since about 40-50% of passengers are residents staying in Thailand, return flights are probably at about 20% of capacity. 

I'm surprised that both Etihad and Emerates are flying direct from Phuket to the UAE, with 650 seats between them. I wonder if CAAT would allow them to do a sealed UAE-HKT-BKK-UAE loop instead of separate HKT-UAE and BKK-UAE routes.

[Espanol]

4 minutes ago, DrDave said:

I wonder if CAAT would allow them to do a sealed UAE-HKT-BKK-UAE loop instead of separate HKT-UAE and BKK-UAE routes.

Thai Airlines is doing that triangular route.

 

 

 

 

[3NUMBAS]

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a380 retired to the desert

 

Later this month, Lufthansa looks set to send its last Airbus A380, D-AIMH, to storage in Teruel, Spain. The news was tweeted by a former Airbus A380 pilot and shared by German aviation journalist Andreas Spaeth,