04/06/2021
Come one Come All!
This afternoon I was invited to a private meeting with the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand including senior executives to hear about the latest news about the on 1st July.
The good news is that it is almost certainly going ahead after the Center for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) meeting today which approved the in principle. The CCSA is then expected to give its full approval on Monday and the Cabinet on Tuesday. Followed by publication in the Royal Gazette a few days later. The Governor told me that he was confident that there will be no holdups.
But, the biggest difference is that vaccinated tourists will now have to stay 14 days instead of 7 days IF they want to travel elsewhere in the country. This is because of national policy and the 14 day quarantine elsewhere. If quarantine is later reduced to 7 days again, then vaccinated tourists arriving in Phuket will only have to stay on the island for 7 days before going elsewhere.
To be very clear, no-one is saying you must spend 14 days on Phuket. It is not a prison sentence. The average holiday length before was 5 nights on Phuket. You are more than welcome to do that again. But you then must fly home from Phuket. You cannot go elsewhere in Thailand, including Phi Phi island in Krabi or James Bond Island in Phang Nga until you have been on the island 14 days AND your tests were negative.
Another piece of good news just released is that you CAN transit in Suvarnabumi airport before flying to Phuket as part of the Sandbox scheme. There will be a dedicated terminal and a dedicated flight for these people. So, if two or three flights arrive in the morning, everyone will be able to board the same flight to Phuket a bit later in the day. Your ticket will say, for example, London to Phuket.
This Phuket Sandbox is open to anyone. Not just foreign tourists. It includes expats and even Thais. But everyone has to be fully vaccinated by a vaccine that is recognised by the Thai government, WHO or your own country. You must also have the full set of jabs. So if the manufacture said TWO, then you must have two. For the time being, you cannot mix and match vaccines and you cannot just have one just because you have covid and you have an immunity.
You must also be flying to Thailand from a country that is regarded low to medium risk. The full list of those countries will be released soon and will be updated every few weeks.
Expats have asked me why they cannot stay in their own home if they fly to Phuket after 1st July. There is a very good reason. The point of this is to help boost tourism. That doesn’t happen if you are staying in your own home. You must pre book a SHA+ hotel or even hotels before you fly to Thailand. If you are staying 7 nights then you must book and pay for seven nights. But no-one is saying that you must sleep in the hotel. You can still go home. Up to you.
Registration for SHA+ hotels just opened this week and they already have over 400 hotels listed. These are not just expensive hotels. They are a range of hotels. More are being added all of the time. If you see a hotel listed as SHA (it is basically clean and obeys all the rules for the new normal) then you can presume at some point they will apply to be a SHA+ hotel. The plus just means that at least 70% of the workforce are vaccinated.
No-one is saying you need to book tour packages. You can just book hotels and then spend all of your time by the pool or on the beach. You can also wander freely around the island. You just cannot go on a boat trip to another island that is outside of Phuket province. Not during the first two weeks anyway. Also, if you are booking any tours, you need to make sure they are SHA+ as they offer the best protection. Believe me, all tour operators will be applying for this sticker.
About the covid free tests. The details are not known yet. You might be told to do the same three tests that quarantine tourists have to do. But that might be reduced to only two. Full details on this will be released next week. But to be clear, if you test positive you WILL be sent to hospital and that will be the end of your holiday.
So, this Phuket Sandbox is only for vaccinated people. However, if you are not vaccinated, then you can still do ASQ quarantine on the island for 14 days before then being free to go anywhere in Thailand. Like I said before, if the situation improves, this may be reduced to ten and even 7 days in the future for certain groups of people. but no guarantee on the timeline.
What about domestic tourists like myself? Well, the rules are expected to be much the same. If I fly to Phuket from Bangkok I will have to be vaccinated or do a covid-free test. But what I was told is that starting on 1st July, there will be a rapid test available on arrival in Phuket. That is not available now. Once I am there I can freely travel around the island. But, and this is a big but, I cannot do a day trip to say Phi Phi until I have been on the island for 14 days. There is no difference between internationals tourists and myself. However, if you can prove that you are an expat living on the island for more than 14 days then you can do so.
About bars and beer. There is a national rule to close all pubs and bars. Phuket won’t be allowed to be an exception to this rule. But it is hoped that rules will be relaxed by July for drinking alcohol in restaurants and hotels. Maybe others things will be relaxed by then. Of course, no guarantees about the future. After all, we are still in the middle of a pandemic.
I know a lot of you may know about the local taxi mafia and even the two tier pricing that spoils some holidays. I specifically asked the Governor of TAT about this. He said they will be taking this opportunity to clean up the situation to make sure that tourists are safe and that their holiday isn’t spoiled by scammers. He is also very much in agreement with me that the two price policy is bad for tourism. We have talked before on this. He said that when he saw the mayor this week and he was telling him they were building a toilet block on the beach, the governor told him he mustn’t charge the tourists more. It must be the same price for everyone.
I think I have covered most things. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will answer them. I will also update this text too.
