Pandemic tourism: Thailand launches Phuket ‘sandbox’ plan

PHUKET, Thailand — Thailand embarked on an ambitious but risky plan Thursday that it hopes will breathe new life into a tourism industry devastated by the pandemic, opening the popular resort island of Phuket to fully vaccinated foreigners from lower-risk countries.

As the first flight arrived, airport fire trucks blasted their water canons to form an arch over the Etihad jet from Abu Dhabi as it taxied to its gate.

Leaving the airport, Frenchman Bruno Souillard said he had been dreaming for a year of returning to Thailand and jumped at the opportunity.

“I am very, very happy,” the 60-year-old tourist said.

The “Phuket sandbox” program comes as coronavirus infections are surging in Thailand, including a significant number of cases of the Delta variant, and many have questioned if it’s too early to woo tourists back, and whether they’ll come in significant numbers in any case due to the restrictions they’ll still face.

But the number of new cases on the island itself is extremely low, in the single digits daily, and more than 70% of its residents are fully vaccinated. The government is gambling that travelers will be willing to put up with coronavirus-related regulations for the opportunity for a beach holiday after being cooped up in their home countries for months.

Before the pandemic, the tourism sector made up some 20% of Thailand’s economy, and 95% of Phuket’s income.

The resort island off the southern coast saw fewer than a half million visitors in the first five months, and almost no foreigners, compared to more than 3 million during the same period last year including some 2 million foreigners.

In a nod to the importance of the “sandbox” plan, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha flew to Phuket to be on hand in person for the launch.

He emphasized that the sandbox was just the first step toward his goal announced in June of having Thailand completely reopened within 120 days.