Starting from July 1, in order to attract international tourists and revitalize Phuket’s tourism industry, the Thai government launched a plan called the “Phuket Sandbox”: tourists from countries with low to medium risk of COVID-19 infection, as long as they After receiving two c

The Paper reporter Qian Chengxi comprehensively reports on

The travel "sandbox plan" of in Phuket, Thailand has been implemented for a month.

Starting from July 1, in order to attract international tourists and revitalize the tourism industry in Phuket , the Thai government has launched a plan called "Phuket Sandbox" (see previous private geography report by The Paper): From Tourists from countries with medium to low risk of COVID-19 infection can enter Phuket without quarantine as long as they have received two complete doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. To enter other parts of Thailand without quarantine, travelers need to stay in Phuket for 14 days.

However, on July 30, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that from August 3 to 16, except for special circumstances, all types of people, vehicles, ships, and domestic flights are prohibited from entering Phuket through land, water, and air channels. island. However, overseas visitors in the sandbox program are not affected by .

The background of the promulgation of this new policy is that since late July, the new crown epidemic in Thailand has been rebounding. Data from Johns Hopkins (JHU) shows that on July 28, the country had a record 16,533 new cases that day. Thailand's vaccination situation is not optimistic either, with only 5.6% of the country's population fully vaccinated against the new coronavirus. In sharp contrast, as of mid-July, more than 60% of Phuket's population had been vaccinated to start the sandbox program.

An American living in Phuket told the online news outlet "Insider" that he does not believe that the ban on domestic travel will have an impact on Phuket currently. "Domestic flights from high-risk areas have been canceled for about a week, and before that, only fully vaccinated locals were allowed to enter Phuket." He also said that what should be worried about is not that international tourists will infect the new coronavirus. Phuket locals may spread the virus to travelers. On July 29, the US government announced that it would deliver 2.5 million doses of vaccine to Thailand and Cambodia, of which 1.5 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine will arrive in Thailand this Friday. However, the medical system of Bangkok is already facing collapse, and COVID-19 patients are being transferred to sleeper trains and sent out of Bangkok. Can the

"sandbox" continue?

Data from the Tourism Authority of Thailand shows that in the one month since the "Sandbox" was launched, a total of 14,055 international tourists have entered Phuket through the program, with nearly 300,000 hotel reservations per night, creating a local revenue of no less than 800 million. Tourism revenue of Thai baht (approximately 160 million yuan). At the beginning of the plan, there were few tourists to Thailand, but then the number of tourists gradually increased. In addition, in the past month, 32 international tourists who entered the island through this program have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus.

Previously, Thailand Prime Minister's Office spokesman Anucha said on July 31 that the Phuket Sandbox Project is a pilot project for Thailand to open up international tourism, and the overall situation has been satisfactory one month since its launch. Although the epidemic in Phuket has increased recently, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has made it clear that he will continue to implement the Phuket Sandbox Plan and requires strict management of entry and exit from Phuket in strict accordance with epidemic prevention and control measures.

The lonely parasol on the beach, looking forward to the arrival of tourists

Following Phuket, the three islands in Surat Thani in southern Thailand Koh Samui , Koh Phangan and Koh Tao also have conditions on July 15 It is open to overseas tourists, and Krabi and Phang Nga provinces are preparing to open to welcome tourists in August.

However, so far, only 93 foreign tourists have entered Koh Samui directly, and another 185 tourists have arrived in Koh Samui from Phuket. The soon-to-be-opened Krabi Island will only accept foreign tourists who have been fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine or the Sinopharm vaccine, or who have received at least one shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In addition, they also need to provide a nucleic acid test report within the past 72 hours. .

Krabi Tourism Association data shows that starting from August 10, 500 foreign tourists will take a boat from Phuket to Krabi . The destination of most of them is the diving resort Phi Phi Island . The association estimates that they will contribute approximately 17.5 million baht in local revenue.The association aims to receive 7,000 foreign tourists from Phuket by September.

Before the epidemic, Krabi was one of Thailand's famous resort islands

Since November 2020, Phi Phi Island has had no new cases of new coronavirus pneumonia. Thunder Bay, another island in Krabi, has had no new COVID-19 cases since April this year, while Ngai Island has never had a COVID-19 epidemic. After tourists come to Krabi, they can stay in fifteen hotels with safety certificate issued by the Thailand Safety and Health Administration. In addition, the local government also provides 36,000 new coronavirus rapid tests to 12,000 locals engaged in the tourism industry. Test kits for emergencies. Krabi Airport is currently undergoing expansion projects and is expected to be completed in October. The Krabi Tourism Association hopes that Krabi will then allow foreign tourists to come directly rather than through Phuket.

Editor in charge: Xu Ying

Proofreader: Xu Yijia