Samui Plus Model misses the target on number of foreign visitors
The island of Samui in Surat Thani province has seen only 628 foreign visitors as of September 7, lower than the target of 1,000, per month, since the launch of the “Samui Plus Model” on July 15.
Among foreign visitors to Samui, the top three countries are France (118 visitors), Germany (96) and the United Kingdom (95).
The Samui Plus Model is a more liberal tourism "sandbox" programme that aims to promote the local tourism industry by reopening certain areas of Surat Thani to foreign visitors. Under the programme, vaccinated visitors are required to stay on the property of a participating hotel for the first three days. From day 4 to 7, only travel to specific routes and destinations are permitted. From day 8 to 14, tourists can travel anywhere in Samui, and even go to Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao. On the 15th day, a visitor can leave Samui and travel anywhere in Thailand.
“The programme needs to adjust its criteria by eliminating the period in which visitors have to stay in the hotel to attract more visitors,” Phatcharaphorn Phoonsawas, president of Samui Tourism Promotion Association, said on Thursday.
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“We will soon submit the proposal to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration so that it can be implemented before October 1.
“Furthermore, we are planning to reduce the price of testing via RT-PCR method, which visitors must take three times during their stay in Samui, from Bt15,000 per person to lower than Bt8,000 per person to attract more visitors,” added Phatcharaphorn.
“We believe that under the new criteria, Samui will see at least 4,500 tourists in the fourth quarter [October-December], or 1,500 visitors per month, which will help generate income of Bt90 million to Bt112 million to local entrepreneurs,” he added.