Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha explained the ‘Phuket transformation’ initiative on his Facebook page on Friday (Oct 1), saying that this program aims to attract up to a million high-quality foreign travelers as well as those who are on a ‘workation’ during the 4th quarter of this year all the way to the 1st quarter of 2022. That is an average of 5,000 visitors per day, reported state news agency NNT.
The PM said he expects around 500,000 tourists to travel via chartered flights to Thailand from England, Russia, Germany and Nordic countries from October 2021 to March 2022.
Gen Prayut said the government will develop online registration systems including health screening and vaccination certificates to make their travel more convenient.
The premier also hailed the sandbox programs as a success, saying they helped stimulate the economy and had not led to any setback in the country’s COVID-19 containment measures.
The Phuket Sandbox gave life to two other programmes ‒ Samui Plus and Phuket Extension. Together, they contributed B2.33 billion to the economy as of Sept 27. Under the schemes, SMEs are provided with a subsidy to help them retain employees, said the report.
The PM noted now that new cases have been on a decline and more businesses have resumed, the government can shift its focus to economic recovery.