Phang Nga reopening to foreign tourists postponed to Aug 15
The reopening of Phang Nga province to foreign tourists scheduled for August 1 has been postponed to August 15, provincial governor Jamroen Thippayaphongthada said on Friday.
“We decided to postpone the reopening under the 'Phang Nga Prompt' campaign to August 15, as the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has yet to approve the reopening date previously scheduled for August 1,” he said. “The other reason is the province’s integration with the Mor Chana contact tracing platform is not yet complete.”
“Lastly, the province has seen new cluster cases in the past week and therefore needs more time to publicise disease control measures to the locals at the community level,” he added.
On Friday, Phang Nga reported 37 new cases, bringing cumulative cases in the province since April 1 to 640 patients.
Jamroen added that he had called a meeting with tourist entrepreneurs in the province regarding the postponement, and most of the business owners agreed that the postponement was necessary, and the economic impact should be at an acceptable level.
Phang Nga had estimated that more than 20,000 tourists would visit the province in the first month of reopening, generating more than THB2.6 billion of direct and indirect income to local businesses.
The Phang Nga Prompt campaign is linked to the Tourism Ministry’s "7+7 Island Hopping" scheme under which vaccinated tourists who stayed in Phuket for seven days can travel to nearby islands in Phang Nga, Surat Thani and Krabi provinces for another seven days, provided they tested negative via RT-PCR method.
Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakarn said on Friday that the scheme would be postponed indefinitely pending approval from the CCSA.