Phuket Freedom Day is December 1st! Island will welcome 3.5 million tourists spending 210 billion baht in four months

[webfact]

File photo: REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

The private sector in Phuket thinks that the future for Phuket is rosy.

 

So rosy in fact that they have declared that December 1st 2021 will be Phuket Freedom Day.

 

This is the day that almost everyone on the holiday island will have been jabbed three times with Covid-19 vaccine.

 

Surachai Chaiwat, former head of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce said that Phuket was a shining example for the world and such a beautiful place. 

 

Yes, there were currently 200 infections a day and things were difficult currently but December 1st was a realistic Freedom Day, he suggested.

 

On this day it has been predicted:

 

Everyone will be vaccinated

 

100% of businesses will be open

 

Everything will be back to a new normal

 

International travel will be back to normal with foreign visitors who have been double vaxxed arriving freely

 

In fact the target for Phuket is to get 50% of its 2019 tourists back.

 

There will be 3.5 million visitors in the four months from December through March, is the hope.

 

And best of all they are set to spend big helping the economy get 210 billion baht by the end of March 2022.

 

The Phuket Sandbox attracted 26,400 visitors in the first two months with between 100 and 400 arrivals daily.

 

To get 3.5 million tourists in 120 days this will have to increase to almost 30,000 a day. 

 

ASEAN NOW suggests that this is a leap of faith, but Thai business media published the targets without any suggestion that it was unrealistic. 

 

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[Phuketshrew]

Damn, that's some strong stuff he's been smoking ...

[LivinginKata]

Who gave him the power to DECLARE phuket will open when he wants to. For sure the weak government will just fall into line. 

[Neilly]

21 minutes ago, webfact said:

To get 3.5 million tourists in 120 days this will have to increase to almost 30,000 a day. 

Gunna need a lot of air drops then! ????

 

 

[DrMJA]

What Delusional provincial governor.
The same Muppets said: 

[connda]

Edward Deming had a lot to say about the total ineffectiveness of sloganism.
"Freedom Day."  Yeah that worked so well in the UK.  How about Hopium Day.  It would be more apt.

[tomazbodner]

47 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

Damn, that's some strong stuff he's been smoking ...

This goes beyond smoking. What is he injecting?

[d2b2]

That seems like pie eyed optimism 

[smedly]

22 minutes ago, d2b2 said:

That seems like pie eyed optimism 

I think it's hilarious

[Scrotobike]

Damn that TAT calculator - the zero keeps getting stuck.

Free comedy for everyone

[racket]

There was never a normal before covid. Businesses were struggling, tourists arrivals disappointed from year to year and things were only getting worse in terms of high expectations. The thing is, there are no investments, their marketing strategies are outdated, public safety is a concern and everything seems overpriced. The baht has fallen which could help but It would only be short lived. Not sure what to say but it will take years before international travel rebounds in general. SE Asian countries will certainly lag more compared to other reopenings in Europe. I expect only a 3rd of that number highlighted to materialize. It’s obviously only a marketing pitch, but people ain’t that stupid. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by racket

[ikke1959]

First the travel advices of the western countries should be changed from red to green, and I don't know if that will happen under the current circumstances.... Manipulated low numbers of new cases and low efficient vaccines, and a low vaccination grade.....There is some work to do first.. And at this moment Phuket has increasing cases.... so....don't be happy too soon

[Karma80]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Surachai Chaiwat, former head of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce said that Phuket

Some business has-been pipes out this garbage and it gets traction? Even the TAT would have been laughing at this muppet.

[khunPer]

3.5 million tourists spending 210 billion baht in four months...

-I presume that these numbers are based on the experience from the first two month of the sandbox-period...????

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

100% of businesses will be open

 

Everything will be back to a new normal

I noted the expression "new normal", then you cannot compare to how 100% open businesses was before, but great if tourism and economy can rapidly recover...????

[mar zarych]

They apparently believe that  making overly optimistic projections will give them some status or standing in the current reality. Just the opposite is true. They look like fools and their credibility is worthless. 

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by mar zarych

[ourmanflint]

The number will more likely be between 100-200,000 people in the high season for this year. 25x less than they predict

[trainman34014]

Yawn....another Fairy Story !

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

This is the day that almost everyone on the holiday island will have been jabbed three times with Covid-19 vaccine.

And Santa Claus is real... he's due in on the 25th.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Surachai Chaiwat, former head of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce said that Phuket was a shining example for the world and such a beautiful place.

While the head of the health department says hospitals are at critical level... guess the picture changes with whomever you speak.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

There will be 3.5 million visitors in the four months from December through March, is the hope.

Led by Elvis, Bob Hope and Sir Cliff Richard singing "we're all going on a summer holiday.

[madmitch]

I've been back in England for four weeks. My impression is that long haul travel is simply not on most people's agenda for various reasons. I'm sure there's a similar feeling across much of Europe and North America.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

Highly Positive Necessary Step. Builds upon existing Sandbox Experiment & Learned Lessons.

Oct & Nov “abandoned” as Continued Extended Sandbox Experiment ? 

Clearly Targeting Potential Xmas / New Year (December Holiday Break) Tourists.

Govt. again had no need to indicate/ guess possible tourist numbers. EXPERIMENT Only.

 

Yet Predictably virtually all Member Posts are Negative, Critical or “ Funny”…….

Hideous Attitude. Embarassing for All Expats. No Wonder we are fairly Universally Loathed Here.

[StayinThailand2much]

4 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

This goes beyond smoking. What is he injecting?

Oh, the side effects of Sinovac... 

[ukrules]

If you do somehow manage to become ill with covid I wonder if the isolation camp is still going to be enforced?

[Anant72]

Wow! Bullions upon bullions are going to rain on “<deleted>et” on Freedom day! Isn't that fantastic? Who is the genius who came up with these figures? Can't those clowns in the tourism sector just shut up? They have been ridiculed so many times already!

[Guderian]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Yes, there were currently 200 infections a day and things were difficult currently

The population of Phuket is around 400,000, while the population of Thailand is 70 million. So 200 infections in Phuket daily is the equivalent of 35,000 new cases a day nationally, almost three times today's number. By all rights, they should be putting the island under the strictest lockdown yet, but instead they want to create the perfect conditions for the virus to spread even faster. It reminds me of the Great Songkran Travel disaster that the government decided wouldn't hurt things back in April, which helped to spread Delta around the country.

[stigar]

Here we go again...It want happend,but they just dont get it.

[mrfill]

A family of 4 to spend 280,000Bt on holiday.

 

Expensive hotels or khao pad now 5000bt  ?

[Pravda]

What can I say. Added a laughing emoji