Numbers low in Phuket's tourism revival bid

[BANGKOK] Visitors to Thailand's resort island of Phuket in July were at just 1 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, an official told Reuters, as a bid to revive tourism to the Southeast Asian country gets off to a slow start amid its biggest Covid-19 outbreak yet.

The island re-opened last month under the "Phuket Sandbox" programme to fully-vaccinated tourists who could skip Thailand's mandatory two week quarantine provided they remained on Phuket, where tourism accounts for 90 per cent of the local economy.

Nearly 15,000 people visited the island from overseas in July, Phuket Tourist Association president Bhummikitti Ruktaengam told Reuters, equivalent to just over 450 foreign arrivals a day.

"In the past, we were looking at 43,000 daily arrivals, so what we got was 1 per cent of normality," he said. "1 per cent in business terms is not ok, but 1 per cent also gives hope," he added. "We're seeing the light. It's encouraging." Tourism before the pandemic was a key driver of Thailand's economy, accounting for 12 per cent of GDP. In 2019, the country welcomed 40 million foreign arrivals, of which 10 million visited Phuket.

The Finance Ministry recently slashed its forecast for foreign arrivals to 300,000, down from an earlier prediction of 2 million.

Phuket has kept infections low with a 7-day average of 35 cases compared with the national average of 18,400. However, the number of people with bookings for August stood at just 9,000 so far, Mr Bhummikitti said, as Thailand grapples with a surge in Covid-19 cases.

On Wednesday, the health ministry reported 20,200 new coronavirus cases and 188 additional deaths, both of which were record highs.

"People looking from overseas will see that the numbers are scary," Mr Bhummikitti said.

REUTERS