BANGKOK, Sept 6— After the success seen in “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus”, Thailand plans to reopen more of its popular tourist destinations starting next month to revive its tourism industry hard hit by Covid-19 pandemic.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ deputy spokesman Natapanu Nopakun said the capital city Bangkok and four other provinces namely Chonburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chiang Mai will reopen for vaccinated tourists from October 1.
“Another 21 provinces are to follow by mid-October, the details of which are to be announced in due course,” he said during the Covid-19 daily briefing here today.
As the pilot destination of the reopening, Phuket had welcomed 26,400 visitors in the first two months since the launch of “Phuket Sandbox” on July 1 through August 31, generating 1.63 billon Baht in revenue.
Under “Samui Plus”, from July 15 travelers could visit Koh Samui, Koh Pha-ngan and Koh Tao with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) saying the programme had welcomed 918 visitors, with 6,329 room nights, generating 37.6 million Baht in revenue until August 31.
TAT said in a statement, most of these arrivals were from European countries and the United States.
On June 16, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha announced Thailand will reopen to fully vaccinated visitors within the next 120 days or by mid-October, but the plan now hangs in balance following the surge in Covid-19 cases in the kingdom as well as low vaccination rate.
To date, Thailand has administered 35.91 million doses of vaccine including 25.23 million as first dose.
Meanwhile, the Sheikul Islam Office (SIO) in Thailand has approved the resumption of prayers at mosques in communities where at least 70 per cent of population aged 18 or over have been vaccinated against Covid-19
Natapanu said the Islamic committee members at mosques and worshippers must have received at least one dose of vaccine.
“Prayer time is limited to 30 minutes and Friday prayers not more than 45 minutes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thailand recorded 13,988 new Covid-19 cases and 187 fatalities over the last 24 hours, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 1,294,522 and 13,042 deaths to date.
— Bernama
