.Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the sandbox project will be launched in Phuket and Pattaya initially. The plan is to open Phuket fully without mandatory quarantine from July, once 930,000 people or 70 per cent of Phuket’s population have been vaccinated, Phiphat said.

A similar reopening scheme will also be applied to Pattaya.

He added that the ministry will rush to procure vaccines to create more sandboxes in places like Chiang Mai, Krabi, Phang Nga and Surat Thani by October 1.

Minister hopes to fully open Phuket to foreigners by July 1

The only way Thailand’s tourism sector can recover is if tourists do not have to spend their first 14 days in quarantine. Hence, the Tourism and Sports Ministry has decided to create a “sandbox” to accept tourists who have been fully vaccinated with two doses without quarantine