PHUKET: The Phuket Sandbox tourism promotion is proceeding satisfactorily, according to the deputy governor of the island resort province hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, Vikrom Jakthi.
From the launch of the programme on July 1 to Aug 14 there had been 20,727 tourist arrivals, of whom 57 were found infected with Covid-19 and seven had recovered, he said.
As of Sunday, 6,022 tourists were still in Phuket. Some had returned home while others had moved on to any of five other destinations - Surat Thani, Phangnga, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chon Buri or Bangkok.
Mr Vikrom said the Phuket Sandbox model was proceeding as planned. There had been reservations for 480,239 room nights at Safety and Health Administration (SHA) Plus hotels for the July-September period - 190,843 in July, 159,403 in August and 29,993 in September.
From October to February, there were advance reservations for 12,248 room nights.
A new model for the sealed tourism route, Phuket Sandbox 7+7, had been proposed. It would also link Phuket with Phangnga and Krabi in the Andaman group of provinces, he said, but gave no further detais.
The proposal would be forwarded to other agencies for consideration, Mr Vikrom said.
