The first 14 days of the Phuket sandbox scheme will be a critical test run to pave the way to open other areas in southern Thailand, says the Tourism and Sports Ministry.
Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism and sports minister, said 500 tourists booked tickets to travel to the island on Thursday for the reopening, but a delay in the Certificate of Entry (COE) process caused some of them to postpone their trips.
The delay has been sorted, said Mr Phiphat.
Once tourists arrive, they must clear the travel document verification process and take a Covid swab test that should not exceed 30 minutes, he said. They can wait at their hotels for the result.
The entire process upon arrival at the airport should take around two hours for a flight with 180 passengers, said Mr Phiphat.
Tourists are divided into six groups to disperse the flow at the airport.
Officials from the Public Health Ministry are responsible for manual document checks for the first 14 days before an electronic process is adopted.
The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Yuthasak Supasorn, said passengers from four international flights on the first day totalled 366, with 25 arriving on Etihad Airways, 136 on Qatar Airways, 137 on El Al Israel Airlines, and 68 on Singapore Airlines.
However, passengers with Phuket sandbox COEs tallied only 322, with the remainder transit passengers or unvaccinated tourists.
As of yesterday, 1,075 tourists had obtained COEs for the Phuket sandbox scheme for the first seven days, Mr Yuthasak said.
He said another 437 passengers are scheduled to arrive today, followed by 220 passengers tomorrow, and 88 people on Sunday.
A total of 396 tourists booked hotels yesterday and 596 are scheduled to check in today.
Mr Phiphat said if there's no outbreak on the island for two weeks, the government will continue with its sealed route scheme on Koh Samui on July 15, followed by Krabi and Phangnga in August.
New infections are the biggest threat to the Phuket sandbox as the island will have to stop accepting inoculated tourists if more than 90 new cases are reported in a week.
He said if hospitals in Phuket cannot handle an emergency, the ministry and related agencies are prepared to meet, working to identify variants and prepare measures to cope with the situation.
"The Phuket sandbox cannot fail because we fought so hard to make it happen," Mr Phiphat said.
"The plan provides hope for operators and raises confidence we are ready to bring back tourists."
He said the deadline to reopen the country in mid-October depends largely on vaccinations, but the ministry will try to reopen Bangkok by that timeline.
