"Sandbox"

The Songkhla private sector has proposed the “Dan Nok Sandbox” initiative to reopen the province to cross-border trading with Malaysia.

Beginning October, Koh Samui will replace the “Samui Plus Model” to promote tourism with the more liberal "sandbox" programme. Hotel bookings are expected to exceed 10,000 nights, district chief Teerapong Chuaychoo told the press on Sunday.

The Phuket "sandbox" programme drew over 19,000 foreign tourists and generated over THB1 billion in revenue for the province, Thanusak Pheungdet, president of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, said on Friday.

The Phuket sandbox command centre on Wednesday pinpointed six locations in the province that are considered risky spots for tourists, while urging local authorities to improve security measures at these locations to make the sandbox programme safer.

Phuket welcomed 14,055 foreign tourists who reserved a total of 190,843 room nights from July 1 to 31, according to Tourism and Sports Ministry statistics on the province’s sandbox programme published on Tuesday.

Some 9,000 tourists have reserved hotel rooms in Phuket for August, lower than the expected 25,000 to 30,000 tourists in the second month of the Phuket Sandbox programme that started on July 1, the Phuket Tourist Association said.

Of the 14,055 arrivals on 141 flights, 32 (0.23%) tested positive. Most of the tourists were from the US, United Arab Emirates, Israel and Germany.

Phuket Governor Narong Woonsiew said on Saturday that the tourism sandbox campaign in the province would not be affected by the increased screening measures to prevent imported Covid-19 cases.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revised the conditions of the Phuket "sandbox" programme on Monday, reducing mandatory stay in Phuket to seven days, while allowing tourists to spend the balance seven days on "Sealed Routes" in five other provinces.

The Phuket provincial communicable disease committee will increase screening measures for visitors to the island from July 25 to August 2 to prevent Covid-19 cases from other provinces affecting the Phuket Sandbox programme that started on July 1.

The tourism sandbox program has generated an estimated THB400 million income directly and indirectly for Phuket within a month.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is confident that the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand in the fourth quarter of the year will increase significantly, thanks to the tourism sandbox campaigns that aim to reopen certain areas of Thailand to vaccinated tourists.