PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) – Thailand is a major tourism sector that has jumped to the top of the COVID-19 vaccination line, the country’s most popular resort island by launching a mass inoculation program two months ahead of the rest of the country .
Phuket Island aims to deliver fires to at least 460,000 people – most of its population – as it prepares for July 1, when vaccinated visitors abroad will no longer be required to quarantine.
Phuket also has its own international airport, and tourists could travel freely on the island without posing a coronavirus risk to the rest of the Thai population.
“If we can build immunity for 70-80% of the island’s population, we can receive foreign tourists who have been vaccinated without the need for quarantine,” Phuket Vice President Piyapong Choowong told Reuters.
While health workers, cabinet members and the elderly were the first to be vaccinated, Thailand’s decision to prioritize Phuket over other parts of the country underscores the central role of tourism in the economy.
Expenditures of foreign tourists accounted for 11-12% of pre-pandemic GDP, and the sector was devastated by the virus, with 1.45 million jobs lost last year.
Only 6.7 million foreign tourists visited Thailand in 2020, spending about $ 11 billion. This compares to almost 40 million in 2019, when they spent 61 billion dollars.
The government wants to see at least 100,000 tourists come to Phuket in the third quarter. He also hopes that with the progress of vaccinations worldwide, demand will increase in the fourth quarter and that nationally about 6.5 million visitors will spend 350 billion baht ($ 11 billion) by the end of the year.
“It’s a challenge. But that will contribute to some extent to GDP, “said Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of Thailand’s tourism authority.
“We don’t expect tourists to enter like a broken dam, but we hope to have quality visitors at great expense.”
Visitors from Europe, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are expected to return first, Yuthasak said.
Strict 14-day quarantine requirements for foreign visitors have helped Thailand limit coronavirus infections to about 29,100 cases and 95 deaths, but they have proven to be too much of a barrier for most tourists.
Programs to attract long-term tourists that give negative results to coronavirus have largely disrupted, even with creative measures, such as quarantine in golf resorts.
Songklod Wongchai, an analyst at Finance Syrus, believes Thailand could see a rapid return to tourism, citing the example of the Maldives, which has seen hotel occupancy rates return to 70-80% despite cases of the virus.
“The request for renewal may return sooner than expected. I think the Land of Smiles will start smiling again, “he said.
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Reporting by Prapan Chankaew in Phuket, Orathai Sriring and Satawasin Staporncharnchai in Bangkok; Written by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Edited by Edwina Gibbs