A deserted beach in Phuket. Image: Reuters
October 1 has once again been proposed as the possible date for when foreign tourists will be able to return to Thailand without first needing to spend 14 days confined to a hotel room.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn on Thursday said plans to allow foreign tourists to visit Phuket from October 1 were still on track, despite a lack clarity regarding the roll out of COVID-19 vaccinations in Thailand, particularly for those working in the tourism and hospitality industries.
The TAT is pushing for tourism workers to be included in the second round of inoculations, after the vaccine has been given to frontline healthcare workers and members of the public deemed most at risk from the virus.
And while the Thai government has announced plans to inoculate 1 million people by May and then 10 million people per month from June, it is not immediately clear where tourism workers stand in the vaccine rollout.
It also remains unclear if the proposal to allow tourists to visit Phuket will still go ahead if all of the Thai population have not been given the vaccine.
First revealed in August 2020, the proposal to open up Phuket to foreign tourists would essentially see the island turned into a huge travel bubble/quarantine zone.
Tourists would still need to quarantine on the island but would not be confined to a hotel room, as is the case currently. Travel to other parts of Thailand would be restricted until tourists have completed 14 days on the island.
The news comes as business leaders from Phuket's tourism industry lobbied the government to reverse its decision to ban local administrations from sourcing COVID-19 vaccinations themselves.
Phuket had planned to purchase and distribute government approved vaccines to the locals on the island prior to opening up to foreign tourists on Oct 1 and in turn kickstarting the local economy, which depends heavily on foreign tourism.
Officials in Pattaya also said they had also considered similar plans.
However, the government said on Tuesday that local administrations and private organisations are not permitted to purchase the vaccine independently.
Thailand is actually open to foreign tourists currently via the Special Tourist Visa program, Thailand Elite membership and visa exempt entry.
However, any foreigner who enters the country is required to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel, at their own expense.
Stats seen by Thaivisa earlier this week revealed that despite being open to tourists, very few have actually visited the country amid the ongoing pandemic.
In fact, around the same number of people have visited in the past six months than would normally have visited in a single day, pre COVID-19.
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