Thailand bets on ‘Phuket sandbox’ program to save lots of tourism

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The tour boat owner Somsak Betlao wades on 28.
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PHUKET, Thailand- Somsak Betlao covered the outboard motor of his traditional wooden longtail boat with tarpaulin and ended another day on Phuket’s Patong Beach, where not a single tourist needed his services to take them to the nearby islands.

Since Thailand’s pandemic travel restrictions were imposed in early 2020, tourism has fallen off a cliff and is nowhere more felt than on the vacation island off the country’s south coast, where nearly 95 percent of the economy is related to the industry.

Despite rising coronavirus numbers in other parts of the country, the government is pushing a program called the “Phuket Sandpit” to reopen the island to fully vaccinated visitors. It hopes it will revitalize tourism – a sector that made up 20 percent of the country’s economy before the pandemic.

Waves break on the empty tourist beach of Patong in Phuket, southern Thailand, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.

AP

Empty beach chairs line the empty tourist beach of Patong on Phuket, southern Thailand, Monday, June 28, 2021.

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Swimming markers line the empty touristy Patong Beach on Phuket, southern Thailand, Tuesday June 29, 2021.

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Empty tourist boats anchor off Rawai Beach on Phuket, southern Thailand, on Monday, June 28, 2021.

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Instead of the hotel quarantines required elsewhere in Thailand, tourists on Phuket can roam the entire island but not travel to other parts of the country for 14 days. Skeptics wonder if people will be willing to accept several restrictions including repeated virus testing and mandatory tracking apps, but officials hope the allure of the island’s famous beaches – and the idea of ​​a beach vacation after long lockdowns – will be enough.