Thailand's Phuket aims to become 'immunity island' for tourists as it seeks post-coronavirus bounce-back
• With 80 per cent of tourism businesses on the island having gone bust, the island's tourism authorities have hatched a plan to fully reopen by October 1
• But the plan depends on whether Phuket can bypass the national government's vaccine roll-out schedule and obtain its own jabs earlier
Vijitra Duangdee
Anchored unused tour boats at Phuket's Chalong pier. Photo: Vijitra Duangdee
At Phuket's Chalong pier, boat driver Mang is in rare, high spirits: he has just had his first paying guests in two months. But for other tour boat operators in the area, surviving until the Thai borders fully reopen to tourists is another question.
"Some owners without savings have sold the boats, some have laid off workers," Mang says as he surveys the lines of idling tour boats around the pier, where in pre-pandemic times they would quickly whisk off the waiting tourists to sea, zipping them through hidden coves among the many offshore islands.
"My boss is trying to ride it out for a little while longer, just to help his staff. But who knows for how long?" With foreign and domestic tourists staying home and Thailand imposing a two-week quarantine for those braving travel, Phuket is facing an economic wipeout, with the inventory of closed hotels, bars and tour businesses growing longer each week.
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