Sandbox seen as the sole hope for revival bangkokpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bangkokpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Is Phuket s tourism sandbox the solution to re-opening Thailand? ANI | Updated: Jul 12, 2021 09:16 IST
By Lee Kahwhye
Singapore, July 12 (ANI): Thailand opened up its resort island of Phuket on July 1 to vaccinated foreign tourists in the first test of how travel in the immediate post-COVID era might look like. Many tourism dependent countries who have sealed their borders since the start of the pandemic are looking on to see if this is a template they can copy.
Unfortunately, within a week of its opening, on July 7, a foreign visitor from the United Arab Emirates was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 and faces 14-days in a government quarantine facility, curtailing his dream of holidaying on the sandy beaches of Phuket.
Is Phuket s tourism sandbox the solution for Thailand?
ANI
12 Jul 2021, 14:03 GMT+10
By Lee KahwhyeSingapore, July 12 (ANI): Thailand opened up its resort island of Phuket on July 1 to vaccinated foreign tourists in the first test of how travel in the immediate post-COVID era might look like. Many tourism dependent countries who have sealed their borders since the start of the pandemic are looking on to see if this is a template they can copy.
Unfortunately, within a week of its opening, on July 7, a foreign visitor from the United Arab Emirates was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 and faces 14-days in a government quarantine facility, curtailing his dream of holidaying on the sandy beaches of Phuket.
Thailand has packed its tourism expectations into the “Phuket Sandbox”
Along Patong beach in Phuket, noisy and loud foreign tourists are closed to restaurants and bars and inviting blue waters are empty, apart from a few Thai bathers.
Covid-19 has removed Thailand’s largest tourist island in 2019, registering 10 million foreign visitors for passengers, turning numerous resorts into ghost boats.
From Thursday, the island will begin accepting foreign tourists for the first time in more than a year, according to a pilot program called “Phuket Sandbox”.
Fully embedded visitors will enter Phuket without having to endure a two-week quarantine if they fly before the Covid-19 test and before the two arrive. They also need to download the location tracking app and stop traveling to the Thai mainland for 14 days.
How Phuket Hotels are Gearing Up for the Island s Reopening destinasian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from destinasian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.