PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) – In Thailand, it is the largest tourism sector to jump to the top of the COVID-19 vaccination line, with the country’s most popular tourist island launching a mass inoculation program two months earlier than the rest of the country.
The island of Phuket aims to hand over shots to at least 460,000 people, most of its population, as it prepares for July 1, when visitors vaccinated abroad will no longer have to quarantine.
Phuket also has its own international airport and tourists could tour the island freely without posing any risk of coronavirus to the rest of the Thai population.
“If we can build immunity for 70-80% of the island’s population, we can get vaccinated foreign tourists without the need for quarantine,” Phuket Deputy Governor Piyapong Choowong told Reuters.
Although medical workers, cabinet members and the elderly were the first to be vaccinated, Thailand’s decision to prioritize Phuket over other parts of the country highlights the central role of tourism in the economy. .
Expenditure by foreign tourists accounted for 11-12% of pre-pandemic GDP and the sector has been devastated by the virus with 1.45 million jobs lost since last year.
Only 6.7 million foreign tourists visited Thailand in 2020 and spent about $ 11 billion. That compares to nearly $ 40 million in 2019, when they spent $ 61 billion.
The government wants to see at least 100,000 tourists come to Phuket during the third quarter. It also expects that as vaccines advance worldwide, demand will increase in the fourth quarter and that across the country some 6.5 million visitors will have spent 350 billion baht ($ 11 billion) by the end of year.
“It’s a challenge. But that will contribute to GDP to some extent, ”said Thai Tourism Authority Governor Yuthasak Supasorn.
“We don’t expect tourists to come in as a broken dam, but we expect to have quality visitors at a high cost.”
Visitors from Europe, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are expected to return first, Yuthasak said.
Strict 14-day quarantine requirements for overseas visitors have helped Thailand limit coronavirus infections to about 29,100 cases and 95 deaths, but have proven to be too much of an obstacle for most tourists.
Programs to attract long-term tourists who give negative tests for the coronavirus have failed to a great extent, even with creative measures such as quarantine at golf resorts.
Songklod Wongchai, an analyst at Finance Syrus, believes that Thailand could experience a rapid rise in tourism, citing the example of the Maldives, which has seen hotel occupancy rates return to 70-80% despite virus cases.
“The accumulated demand may come back faster than expected. I think the Land of Smiles will start smiling again,” he said.
($ 1 = 31.27 baht)
Reports of Prapan Chankaew in Phuket, Orathai Sriring and Satawasin Staporncharnchai in Bangkok; Written by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Edited by Edwina Gibbs