BANGKOK, 8 July 2021: The Phuket Sandbox programme, since
its launch on 1 July, attracted 32 inbound flights from Europe, the Middle East
and Asia, bringing 1,896 foreign arrivals to the tourist island, the Tourism
Authority of Thailand reported earlier this week.
During the first five days, 1 to 5 July, Thai Airways
International flew from Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Paris, London and Zurich,
Singapore Airlines from Singapore, Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi, Emirates from
Dubai, Qatar Airways from Doha, EL AL Israel Airlines from Tel Aviv and Ben
Gurion, and two private airlines from San Jose and Dubai.
All travellers need to be fully vaccinated, and PCR tested. So far, no passengers on direct international flights to the island tested positive. However, health authorities reported three domestic cases on flights from Bangkok.
Phuket’s commitment to safely reopen to fully vaccinated
visitors include the vaccination programme for 70% of the island’s population.
As of 5 July, 84% of the island’s residents had received their first vaccine
dose, while 67% had double jabs.
TAT reports that during July, around 426 flights are
scheduled, averaging 13 daily. Advance bookings show 11,894 one-way passengers
will travel on six airlines; 8,281 inbound and 3,613 outbound.
TAT expects 100,000 foreign tourists to visit Phuket from
July to September generating an estimated THB8.9 billion in revenue for the
local economy.
Accommodation-wise, advance bookings for SHA Plus hotels in
Phuket for July-September amount to 116,842 room nights. Of this total, 106,883
nights are for July (91%), 8,147 are for August (7%), 857 are for September
(0.7%), and 955 are for October 2021-February 2022 (0.8%).
The next destinations due to reopen on 15 July without
quarantine requirements are the islands of
Samui Phangan, and Tao named Samui Plus programme,
By 1 September, the reopening will extend beyond islands to
include southern resorts such as Krabi
Phang Nga, Khao Lak and Ko Yao,…