Thailand: Thai resort welcomes 1st quarantine-free tourists in over a year

Thailand's ambitious quarantine-free tourism experiment began on Thursday morning as an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi carrying fully vaccinated passengers landed on the island of Phuket. After clearing immigration, the visitors were taken straight to their hotels, where they will wait for the results of PCR tests COVID-19. If the results are negative, the tourists are free to roam the entire island. The Etihad flight was followed by a Qatar Airways flight from Doha and an El Al flight from Tel Aviv. A Singapore Airlines flight was scheduled to land later in the afternoon. The four flights were due to bring in a total of 249 passengers, according to the Thai government. "I want the 'Phuket sandbox' to succeed as a way to achieve our big goals," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters. "May all Phuket residents be proud because it is a mission for the nation." The prime minister's visit reflects the importance of the Phuket sandbox experiment. The Thai government intends to use the island as a steppingstone, with tourists gradually allowed to land in other spots as the country methodically reopens to vaccinated international tourists. Plans are for a full reopening by mid-October. Koh Samui, a touristy island in the Gulf of Thailand and roughly 250 km northeast of Phuket, is scheduled to reopen on July 15. Story has more details.<br/>