Picture: Sanook
The chief of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Yutthasak Suphasorn has insisted that Thailand's record Covid-19 numbers and deaths will not affect either the Phuket Sandbox or the wider reopening of Thailand to foreign tourism.
The foreign tourists will still be coming.
Sanook said that he told this to INN as cases went through the daily 10,000 barrier and deaths topped 100.
It also came as the Moto GP slated for Buriram on October was postponed again and record numbers of cases were reported in Cha-Am.
These are both areas where the 120 day reopening was planned in earlier announcements by the Thai premier Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Yutthasak - widely criticised online for claims that appear to be plucked from the ether - told the media that in fact 200,000 nights of accommodation had been booked in Phuket.
The media made no attempt to drill down on these figures. Were they just tenative bookings, what was the time frame, how many tourists did they represent were left to the reader to guess.
But the media reported in other comments that 1,000 people would be visiting Koh Samui under their "Samui Plus Model" spending 180 million baht between July 15th and August 15th.
The disconnect between the pronouncements of the tourism authorities and the reality on the ground is now becoming a mainstay of online ridicule, notes ASEAN Now.
Anecdotal evidence points to many foreigners contemplating a visit to Thailand closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation in the country, contrary to what the TAT might suggest.
With options for many potential tourists nearer home being more friendly and less onerous regarding documentation, vaccination and testing requirements, a "wait and see" approach may not result in a visit but a cancellation.
Meanwhile, Naew Na reported that the change in regulations introduced by the EU for its nationals returning from Thailand was likely to have a detrimental effect on the Samui Plus Model reopening of three islands in Surat Thani.
Just four days into that plan it already looks under increasing pressure with claims of 1,000 visitors in a month looking ever less likely.
