The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has reported that ‘Phuket Sandbox’ programme since its launch on 1 July 2021, welcomed over 14,000 foreign tourists to Phuket, and the revenue they generated for the local economy amounted to 829 million Baht.
In July 2021, total international arrivals amounted to 14,055, with the largest source market being the USA with 1,802 arrivals. This was followed by the UK with 1,558 arrivals, Israel with 1,455 arrivals, Germany with 847 arrivals, and France with 839 arrivals.
TAT expects 100,000 foreign tourists will visit Phuket in the Third Quarter 2021 (July-September) and inject some 8.9 billion Baht of revenue into the local economy.
Fully vaccinated and able to enter Phuket without the need to quarantine, as the Phuket Sandbox programme allows, these first tourists to return to Thailand as it begins to gradually reopen to tourism came on direct international flights operated by major airlines from points around the world. This included Thai Airways International (THAI) from Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Paris, London, and Zurich, Singapore Airlines from Singapore, Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi, Emirates from Dubai, Qatar Airways from Doha, and EL AL Israel Airlines from Tel Aviv.
Accommodation-wise, the arrivals for July saw 190,843 room nights booked at SHA Plus certified hotels. August has a further 109,694 room nights in advance bookings and September another 9,182 room nights, altogether amounting to 309,719 room nights for the July-September period.
July’s actual number of room nights far outperformed the advance bookings of 106,883 nights on the books at the beginning of July. August and September, too, are now significantly ahead in advance bookings than at this time, resulting in the current total of advance bookings for July-September almost tripling the earlier figure.
The 829 million Baht in revenue for July included 282 million Baht spent on accommodation, 194 million Baht on the purchase of products and services, 175 million Baht on food and beverage, and 124 million Baht on health and medical services. Among the 14,055 tourist arrivals, the average cost of their vacation to Phuket was 58,982 Baht.
Crucially, one of the key benefits of the Phuket Sandbox programme has been the creation of 210 million Baht in salaries for the local employees in the accommodation, restaurant, and other sectors.
