In Thailand, it is the main tourism sector that has jumped to the top of the Covid-19 vaccination line, with the country’s most popular resort island launching a mass vaccination program two months ahead of the rest of Thailand.
Phuket Island aims to deliver shots to at least 460,000 people – the majority of the population – as it prepares for July 1, when vaccinated overseas visitors no longer need to be quarantined.
Phuket also has its own international airport, which means tourists should be able to visit the island without posing any coronavirus risk to the rest of Thailand’s population.
“If we can build up immunity for 70-80% of the island’s population, we can receive foreign tourists who have been vaccinated without the need for a quarantine,” Phuket vice-governor Piyapong Choowong told Reuters .
While medical workers, cabinet members and the elderly have been vaccinated first, Thailand’s decision to prioritize Phuket over other parts of the country underscores the central role of tourism for the economy.
Expenditure by foreign tourists accounted for 11-12% of GDP pre-pandemic and the sector was 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 $ 11 billion. That compares with nearly $ 40 million in 2019, when they spent $ 61 billion.
The government wants to see at least 100,000 tourists come to Phuket in the third quarter. They also hope that as vaccinations progress worldwide, demand will increase in the fourth quarter, and that 6.5 million visitors nationwide will spend 350 billion baht ($ 11 billion) by the end of the year.
“It’s a challenge. But it will contribute to the GDP to some extent, ‘said Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of Thailand.
“We do not expect tourists to enter like a broken dam, but we hope that visitors will be of high quality with high spending.”
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 this is too great a barrier for most tourists.
Programs to attract long-term tourists who test the coronavirus negatively have thrived, even with creative measures such as quarantine at golf courses.
The Maldives has seen the hotel occupancy rate drop to 70-80% despite cases of the virus – a rapid setback Songklod Wongchai, an analyst at Finansia Syrus, believes this could happen in Thailand.
” An expert question may come back faster than expected. “I think the Land of Smiles will start smiling again,” he said.