A Covid-19 test site in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, on December 19.
Photographer: Jack Taylor / AFP through Getty Images
Photographer: Jack Taylor / AFP through Getty Images
As Phuket and other Thai tourist destinations prepare for a slight increase in business from the countdown to 2021, a new outbreak of the virus among workers at seafood factories near Bangkok could not come at any time. worse.
Thailand has discovered a registered the group of infections in Samut Sakhon province last week, causing a 14-day closure of the industrial district. The government is considering whether the borders should be extended to other localities.
Another national deadlock or restrictions on domestic travel could be the “nail in the coffin” for many tourism-related companies, according to the president of the Phuket Hotel Association. Anthony Lark.
“Everyone is losing money and just trying to break in,” Lark said Monday by telephone. “If the government cannot control the virus and domestic or inter-provincial air travel restrictions are in place, then you will absolutely see the owners of hotels, restaurants and boats controlling their businesses.”
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said on Monday it would take about a week to assess whether stricter borders were needed.
News of a widespread outbreak on a seafood market, which brought Thailand’s total infections to 5,289 on Monday, came just a day after the government announced plans to ease some restrictions for tourists in 56 countries, including USA, Japan and Singapore.
Thailand is counting on a revival of tourism to help it emerge from the recession, although the central bank predicts it could take two years for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy to return to pre-pandemic growth levels. Arrivals of foreign tourists generated revenues of over $ 60 billion from about 40 million visitors in 2019.
While the international market has been virtually dormant for months, domestic travelers have kept many places afloat, including in Phuket, where business relied on a swell during the end-of-year holidays.
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Travelers to the Thai capital have accounted for 99 percent of Phuket’s tourists since the nation closed its borders in late March, according to Lark. Prior to the pandemic, foreign tourists accounted for two-thirds of visitors to the island’s province, but contributed about 90 percent of Phuket’s tourism revenue.
“The Bangkok Warriors have supported all the support business,” Lark said, noting that some hotel occupancy rates reached 80 percent at times. But new restrictions “would be the nail in the coffin for so many businesses that were already booked and waiting for tourists in Bangkok.”