aren t complaining, neither are the local business owners like suzanne who describes the past year and a half. horrid. we didn t expect the last wave to hit us the way it s hit us. reporter: tourism accounts for 20% of thailand s gdp. but phuket, it s 95% of its economy which is why the prime minister of tourism says it s a calculated risk worth taking. translator: in 2019, revenue from both domestic and international tourism stood at about 95 million u.s. dollars. that shrank to nearly $20 billion in 2020, a huge drop. reporter: so while it may seem like a parallel universe, for now, thailand is pinning its hopes on phuket while the world watches. paula hancocks, cnn. some celebrations were cancelled this year as the country tries to heal.