Thai tourism set for sluggish reboot as Phuket stutters on ‘sandbox’

Thailand’s planned reopening of the resort island Phuket next month to vaccinated visitors, bypassing quarantine requirements, has met a lukewarm response, with hotel bookings indicating expected occupancy of less than 20% so far. The "Phuket Sandbox" initiative from July 1 will allow free movement on the island for tourists fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with no self-isolation on arrival. They will be given a green light to travel elsewhere in Thailand after 14 days. But there are a few tricky conditions, too, and many industry professionals have complained that uncertainty and constant rule changes are deterring bookings. The plan won't be finalised until later this month. Thai Airways is on board, with direct flights from six European cites to Phuket from July, although it anticipates only a fraction of seats being filled, with about 100 passengers in the first week, one the airline's representatives said. The government hopes the Phuket Sandbox will draw 129,000 visitors to the country in Q3 - a far cry from the average 3.3m monthly arrivals to Thailand in 2019. Typically, a quarter of Thailand's visitors go to Phuket.<br/>