Photographer: Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP via Getty Images
Photographer: Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP via Getty Images
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A Thai holiday island popular for its beaches is working on plans to fully reopen to vaccinated visitors by October to revitalize the devastated tourism industry.
More than a dozen business groups, including the Phuket Chamber of Commerce and the Phuket Tourist Association, plan to pool funds to vaccinate 70% of the island’s population over the age of 18 without waiting for a government rollout. They bet it’s safe to open up the region to foreign tourists once the locals achieve immunity from herds.
The plan, which requires government approval, also aims to waive a mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement, big hurdle for many potential travelers. According to Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, president of the tourism organization, this allows thousands of vaccinated Europeans, who usually spend their winter months in Phuket, to visit.
The plan is the latest effort to revive Thailand’s tourism-dependent economy. An earlier initiative to reopen Phuket to international visitors has faced several delays before they were realized in October, but the response was lukewarm as few travelers wanted to be quarantined. A second wave of Covid-19 infections is also another setback, sparking another round of economic incentives to support businesses and individuals.
Shuttered companies
At least 931 registered businesses in the Thai tourism industry will be closed by 2020
Sources: Department of Business Development, Bloomberg
‘We can’t wait any longer. If we have to wait, we will not survive, ”said Bhummikitti, whose association represents approximately 300 members, including operators of luxury resorts and five-star hotels. “If we miss this winter peak season, we will have to wait another year.”
Thailand sold itself as a paradise Covid retreat. Nobody came
Under the plan, dubbed “Phuket First October”, the tourism industry will import and inject vaccines through private firms. Sinovac Biotech Ltd., the Chinese maker whose vaccine is expected to be approved by the Thai regulator this month. According to officials at the Ministry of Health, the government’s rollout of the vaccine is not expected to achieve herd immunity until 2022.
An abandoned Bangla Road in Patong, Phuket, on December 19, 2020.
Photographer: Taylor Weidman / Bloomberg
With the Thai tourism industry growing losses and hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk, William Heinecke, president of Minor International PCL, which operates more than 500 hotels in 55 countries, last week urged Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha to give priority to tourism workers next to frontline and healthcare employees for vaccination. The move could facilitate quarantine-free travel for people with “ vaccination passports, ” Heinecke said in a letter to the prime minister.
Thai beaches will not fully open again until vaccines are available
Phuket could be a pilot site for Thailand, and once successful, the model could be rolled out to other destinations, Heinecke said, citing the example of the Seychelles announcing quarantine waivers for vaccinated visitors last month.
“Phuket has always made a huge contribution to the Thai economy,” said Bhummikitti. ‘Today we are standing until take control of the situation. We don’t have a lot of money right now, but we’re giving one last push, hoping this will save us. “