Chairman of the Corporation Chamnan Srisawat told the page ttgasia : “The current wave of Covid-19 infections may affect the final decision. But when we have been suffering from a pandemic for 15 months now, only mass tourism can save us.” Officials in Phuket have placed tight restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and are speeding up vaccinations to achieve herd immunity by the end of next month. Phuket is now close to the goal of vaccination against Covid-19 for 70% of its residents so that it can open its doors to foreign tourists. Locals say they are ready to welcome tourists on July 1 as planned. In 2019, Thailand welcomed nearly 40 million visitors, generating about $60 billion in revenue. Photo: livingnomads.com The tourist island of Phuket is expected to reopen and welcome international visitors from July. Thus, Phuket will be the first locality of Thailand to reopen, followed by 10 other destinations in October. Under this plan, travelers in low-risk countries who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to fly directly to Phuket without the need for a 14-day quarantine. It is forecasted that in 2021, Phuket will only welcome about 500,000 visitors, much less than the 6.7 million arrivals in the first months of 2020. Before the Covid-19 epidemic, 2019, Thailand welcomed nearly 40 million. visitors, generating about 60 billion USD in revenue. Currently in Phuket there are about 70,000 accommodation rooms. Mr. Chamnan Srisawat expects about 1 million room nights sold in July, bringing in about 40 billion baht ($1.28 billion) to the hotel and service industry. Mr. Chamnan Srisawat added: “In preparation for the reopening of Phuket, we have discussed with major suppliers and travel agents. They are all ready to help.” Phuket is an attractive destination of the Thai tourism industry. Photo: The Thaiger TCT’s proposal has been submitted to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Ministry of Tourism & Sports of Thailand, then submitted to the Government of this country for approval in June. If the campaign is “one USD, one night” As a result of Phuket’s success, the Thai government and private sector could expand the program to other destinations such as Koh Samui, Pattaya and Bangkok.

Thai Airways International (THAI), Qatar Airways, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Israeli airline El Al are among the first to increase flights to Phuket. This popular tourist island has been closed to international visitors for over a year. Phuket beach is empty because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Source: Reuters A representative of THAI said that direct flights to Phuket from Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Paris, London and Zurich will be launched from July to September this year. In addition, its subsidiary, THAI Smile, has scheduled 4 round-trip flights per week between Phuket and Hong Kong (China), starting from July 2. Singapore Airlines has added one more flight on its Singapore – Phuket route as of June 1, from two existing flights per week. Airlines in the Middle East have also shown interest in Thailand reopening to international tourism. Qatar Airways is also planning to add more flights to Phuket, starting July 1. Emirates will also start direct flights from Dubai to Phuket four times a week, starting July 2. Previously, the airline had resumed daily flights from Bangkok to Dubai since September last year. El Al will resume direct flights from Tel Aviv – Phuket from next month.

Phuket province is rushing to vaccinate against Covid-19 to prepare to open tourism on July 1. (Photo: Phuket News) The Thai government has officially given the green light to the plan to reopen the tourist island of Phuket to foreign tourists who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 from July 1. However, visitors to Phuket will have to stay on the island for at least 14 days before they can leave for other provinces. Under the chairmanship of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the meeting of the Center for Handling the Thai Economic Situation (Cesa) on June 4 reviewed and officially approved the reopening plan. Phuket tourism is submitted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of Thailand. Accordingly, from July 1, Phuket will become the first province in Thailand to welcome back foreign tourists and exempt those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. According to Thailand’s Minister of Sports and Tourism Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, this tourism opening program called “Phuket Tourism Sandbox” will be seen as a model for the opening up of Thailand’s entire tourism industry. However, in the approved plan, foreign tourists coming to Phuket will have to stay on the island for 14 days, a week longer than previously planned, before they can continue their journey to other destinations. in Thailand. Mr. Phiphat said officials attending the meeting also agreed to reopen to tourism for Bangkok, Cha-am district of Phetchaburi province, Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province, Pattaya city of Chon Buri province. , Chiang Mai and Buri Ram provinces from October 1. However, at this meeting, CESA has not approved the plan to reopen Krabi and Koh Samui to international visitors from July because the agency wants to evaluate the results of the reopening of Phuket within the next two months. According to Mr. Phiphat, the main reason why these 10 provinces were selected to participate in the pilot tourism opening program in the fourth quarter of this year is because these provinces bring a huge source of income from tourism. In 2019, the total tourism income of these provinces reached 1.5 trillion baht (equivalent to 48 billion USD). There are already a number of Israeli tourists scheduled to arrive in Phuket on July 7, while visitors from the US will fly to the tourist island two days later. Mr. Phiphat also expressed confidence that at least 70% of Phuket residents and 100% of local tourism staff will be fully vaccinated before the time the island opens. As of June 2, about 60% of the 466,587 residents of Phuket have been vaccinated with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, of which 98,795 have been fully vaccinated.