Phuket Set To Open by July For Vaccinated Tourists

Phuket Set To Open by July For Vaccinated Tourists

Our Facebook news feed is filled with Phuket set to open by July for vaccinated tourists. According to Bangkok Post, quarantine requirements will be waived for vaccinated foreign visitors arriving to Phuket from 1 July 2021.

Vaccinated foreign visitors must receive two doses of the vaccine in their home country before flying to Phuket under the ‘Phuket Tourism Sandbox’.

The Phuket Tourism Sandbox will depend on vaccine allocation to the island and it must achieve herd immunity by inoculating 70% of the population before allowing vaccinated foreign visitors by July 2021.

"I will reopen the country in the sandbox model by limiting the trail to some areas," Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said.

The decision will be formalised after it is approved by the Thai cabinet.

The Thai government plans to test the reopening plan in Phuket before expanding to other key tourist hotspots, including Koh Samui, to restart a tourism industry battered by a year without its normal millions of tourists, who contributed to one-fifth of the economy before the pandemic.

The approval means that Phuket will reopen three months earlier than the rest of the country, which is expected to welcome fully inoculated visitors in October.

Phuket residents will also be prioritised in the vaccine rollout, with more than 930,000 doses expected to be administered before the reopening, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, the president of the Phuket Tourist Association, said earlier this week.

An early reopening could add more than 30 billion baht to the economy, but its success hinges on the international vaccine passport agreements and negotiations with other countries to allow free travel, Mr Bhummikitti said.

Disease Control Department director-general Opas Karnkawinpong said on Friday the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration had agreed to reduce the quarantine period from 14 to 10 days, for both Thais and foreigners, from April 1.

Foreigners will be required to have a "Covid-free certificate", but Thais can be tested at their place of quarantine.

This will not apply to visitors from some African countries, due to the South African variant, including South Africa and Kenya, he said.

Story Source: Bangkok Post

The good news is Phuket Set To Open by July For Vaccinated Tourists but the bad news, we are not sure when are we getting vaccinated in Malaysia. The second phase will start from May to July after the frontliners while the third phase will be after July.

Even we got vaccinated, it will be up to both governments to create the travel bubble for Malaysia and Thailand. We can’t travel even Phuket is when but Malaysia still close the borders. Let us see what will happen in this upcoming few weeks and pray for good news.

Wilson Ng