Phuket Opinion: Are we ready? We’ll soon know how ready tourists are to come to Phuket on holiday, but the real question is, how ready is Phuket to receive them? Phuket News

 

 PHUKET: Following the proclamation by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday that Thailand will reopen to vaccinated tourists from some countries the Thai government defines as "low risk", it has been full steam ahead with easing the COVID restrictions within the country, opening the door for domestic tourism to resume.

We'll soon know how ready tourists are to come to Phuket on holiday, but the real question is, how ready is Phuket to receive them?

If the traffic at the Phuket Check Point onto the island yesterday (Oct 16) – the first day of the eased restrictions allowing vaccinated domestic arrivals into Phuket without having to undergo a COVID test – is any indication, domestic tourism is already on the rise. It's as if Thais and other local residents living in other provinces were just waiting for the green light.

The opening of the gates to international tourists will be something a little different. So far, considering the requirements of the dreaded Certificate of Entry (COE), only the truly dedicated or those already with family, friends or businesses in Thailand have seen coming to Phuket worth the expense and effort.

With the COE to be displaced by a digital 'Thailand Health Pass', noticeably one of the key announcements made in announcing the reopening of the country on Nov 1, we are yet to see how effective that measure will be in encouraging tourists to come.

The COE itself has been a critical issue long identified by major tourism figures on the island as one of the main barriers to resuming tourism. However, immediately after the announcement on Monday that the COE was to go, the first thing tour operators asked for was for chartered flights to be allowed to resume. Now that is saying something about the number of tourists ready to come.

Signs of life are already returning. Tourists were back on Bangla Rd last night, the beaches now have more visitors and main tourist areas now seem safer with many more ambient lighting from the businesses that can afford to already reopen in anticipation of more trade.

Yet, many tourist areas on the island still bear the scars of the COVID-19 shutdown over the past 18 months. Buildings sit empty and dilapidated, and not just in Karon, probably the hardest hit area on the island.

As Wirintra Paphakityosapat, President of the Association of Phuket Tour Operators and SME entrepreneurs in Phuket, pointed out just on Friday, SME operators on the island are in dire need of support. The loans and financial support touted by the government have been beyond their grasp, many ironically for being unable to prove being able to repay the loans at a later date.

 tourism figures in Phuket, including Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Thanusak Phungdet, warned last year that the longer the COVID tourism shutdown dragged on the more damage to the island's tourism infrastructure would be inflicted. Now we can all see it with our own eyes.

Trying to pretend that just allowing tourists to return will fix all the problems will not work. We need to rebuild our tourism industry, and it will take time before there is any sense of equilibrium restored between demand and supply.

It may be harsh to say, but the bottom line is that the quality of facilities and services provided by hotels and tourism businesses in Phuket is not tourists' main concern. Of course many will sympathise with the financial suffering sustained by Phuket residents throughout the COVID economic crisis, but for the bulk of tourists who just want to come here on holiday, they simply expect a holiday experience commensurate with what they have paid – and they will not book until they are confident that the rug won't be pulled out from under them.