News Forum - Phuket Sandbox draws 28,000 travellers, 1.634 billion baht

[Thaiger]

The Phuket Sandbox has been lauded as a success and derided as a failure, but officials have released some raw data over the past few days that indicates the programme falls somewhere in between. Immigration and the Tourism Authority of Thailand have reported on total incoming travellers and their opinions, and the Economics Tourism and Sports Division of the Tourism and Sports Ministry calculated revenue generated by the Phuket Sandbox. Immigration has released official arrival numbers stating that since the Phuket Sandbox launched on July 1, a total of 28,197 international travellers have arrived on the island. About one-third of those […]

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[ThailandRyan]

An average of 14k travelers to Phuket each month so far.  One has to wonder how many or what percentage of those were returnees coming home through the sandbox instead of through an ASQ.  I know of 2 that returned and they are Thai nationals, so there is the other grouping.  I am aware of another OP running somewhere that listed which country the arrivals came from, but as I said how many were returnees versus actual tourists.

With the current restrictions now on travel I wonder how many more will arrive.  I do know that if I were to fly back to the US and then return I would rather do it through the sandbox instead of being locked down for 14 days in an ASQ which consequently is around the corner from my condo here in BKK.  

Looks to me like Thailand will try and open up more Sandboxes starting in just 3 weeks, BKK being one of them, and so I await the details.

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

23 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

The Phuket Sandbox has been lauded as a success

Not only is it a tourist destination, a medical one as well generating (making a profit?) 229 million baht off 28,000 visitors.

 

[Bob20]

In 2 months, 28.000 have visited of the TAT prognosis of 100.000 in the first 3 months.

Time for TAT to start massaging those figures! (is that allowed yet?)

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

In 2 months, 28.000 have visited of the TAT prognosis of 100.000 in the first 3 months.

Time for TAT to start massaging those figures! (is that allowed yet?)

They still have 26 days to get the remaining 72k visitors.......... 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

5 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

Time for TAT to start massaging those figures! (is that allowed yet?)

That is done on the Friday before, at 8 pm, in time to miss the prime news cycle. 

[Artemis080]

It's reported elsewhere that China will not restart international travel mid 2022 and even then to selected destinations. The Chinese tourists were the powerhouse of the post covid tourism boom. Until that returns, it's all scraps from the table as global tourist destinations do their upmost to draw travellers.

I do wonder how many of the "tourists", likely they count everyone no matter the visa type, would otherwise quarantined in Bangkok and never have come to Phuket. I imagine a large chunk.

[Malc-Thai]

"a TAT survey showing 80% of travellers satisfied with the hospitality" so 20% is 5600 unhappy customers!  

[BIGGLES]

 From adversity hope is born!

You have to admire their creative accounting.

Got to put a positive spin on things, ready for the wholesale opening of the country. They will put their head in the sand, and trust to luck. If anyone believes this official nonsense as fact, then good luck to them.

Thailand is in the middle of a storm its called a pandemic, and they are in the process of being swamped by it. This is evident for those who have eyes to see with.

If the Sandbox in Phuket is the great hope, then it is not looking good.

Might possibly, turn a corner October time 2022, if luck is on Thailand/Phuket's side.

Hey Hoe, batten down the hatches!

[Guest1]

 only 88 of the 28,ooo travellers in the Sandbox program have been diagnosed with Covid-19, an impressively low figure

Unlucky,  no one is releasing any numbers, which group has most infected. And also not, how many got "caught" on arrival, how many in the middle and how many at the end of the SHA stay. Which , I think, is telling a story!

[JamesE]

1 hour ago, Bob20 said:

In 2 months, 28.000 have visited of the TAT prognosis of 100.000 in the first 3 months.

Time for TAT to start massaging those figures! (is that allowed yet?)

A massage with a guaranteed happy ending.

[TheDirtyDurian]

If they want more tourists, they should open the sandbox to more countries than the 70 eligible under the current rules. 

[PhayakPeter]

฿1.63 million, that went to the high end hotels,  the airlines, and the testing pharmaceutical companies. 

Meanwhile the average Thai families, noodle sellers, tuktuk drivers, etc, etc, with kids to feed didn't get a sniff. 

 

[PhayakPeter]

1 hour ago, Guest1 said:

 only 88 of the 28,ooo travellers in the Sandbox program have been diagnosed with Covid-19, an impressively low figure

Unlucky,  no one is releasing any numbers, which group has most infected. And also not, how many got "caught" on arrival, how many in the middle and how many at the end of the SHA stay. Which , I think, is telling a story!

 

[PhayakPeter]

Or on the plane, as foreigners need a pcr test, and Thais don't. 

[Guevara]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

They still have 26 days to get the remaining 72k visitors.......... 

'Prognosis'? Ah, the frustrations of a diagnostician. 'Professor' Bob (or Blob) strikes again.

[Guevara]

7 minutes ago, PhayakPeter said:

฿1.63 million, that went to the high end hotels,  the airlines, and the testing pharmaceutical companies. 

Meanwhile the average Thai families, noodle sellers, tuktuk drivers, etc, etc, with kids to feed didn't get a sniff. 

Sounds about right, the most needy remain bordering on being destitute. A dreadful state of affairs.

[EdwardV]

2 hours ago, Artemis080 said:

It's reported elsewhere that China will not restart international travel mid 2022 and even then to selected destinations.

It might not be until November of 2022. China has their once every 5 year CCP meeting in October of next year. The same meeting Pooh expects to be voted in for a third term. There is no way they let anything risk bad headlines before that. Way to easy to just keep everyone locked down for a few extra months. 

[MikeW]

1 hour ago, EdwardV said:

It might not be until November of 2022. China has their once every 5 year CCP meeting in October of next year. The same meeting Pooh expects to be voted in for a third term. There is no way they let anything risk bad headlines before that. Way to easy to just keep everyone locked down for a few extra months. 

If the "free" elections are like the "free" elections here then he doesn't have anything to worry about 

[BJoe]

Talk about FAKE News……TAT is the #2 worst offender next to the junta government.  Tourist who were forced to pay for overpriced accommodations, mandated medical expenses for  attending to safe, vaccinated tourist mingling with an unvaccinated/unsafe work force,   all within a stunted, overpriced tourist environment, influenced by COVID driven restrictions,  AND you come up with DISSATISFACTION. Ask any tourist participating if the would honestly recommend those conditions on family or friends. That is the true measure of success verses “suck”.

[kmc]

And just imagine the response if they didn't impose all sorts of nonsense on vaccinated-covid-negative people flying halfway around the world to wear masks all day and being tracked by a microchip.  On another note- these "travellers" were likely expats or people w/ family there.

[JamesE]

1 hour ago, BJoe said:

Talk about FAKE News……TAT is the #2 worst offender next to the junta government.  Tourist who were forced to pay for overpriced accommodations, mandated medical expenses for  attending to safe, vaccinated tourist mingling with an unvaccinated/unsafe work force,   all within a stunted, overpriced tourist environment, influenced by COVID driven restrictions,  AND you come up with DISSATISFACTION. Ask any tourist participating if the would honestly recommend those conditions on family or friends. That is the true measure of success verses “suck”.

Clearly, you have not checked any prices. The bargains available right now are really borderline amazing. I can stay for two weeks in Phuket in a 55sq m ocean view room, a block off the beach, with breakfast for two people with airport transfers both ways, with transport to the testing centers for about US$800. When I add in the rest of my food, renting a scooter, paying for the tests, and flying to BKK when it's all done, I still come up with paying about the same money as a BKK ASQ - for one person.

There are a ton of reasons why everything's not perfect and why it seems poorly thought out, planned, and executed but these are the rules if you want to travel.

My internal monologue went: "I want to travel. What are the Rules? Those seem like a pain. Yup. But they're the rules if you want to travel. Okay, what's it cost? Really? You didn't misplace a decimal point? Nope. Sign. Me. Up."

And, yes. I realize there are hundreds of other destinations open without all the hoops to jump through right now. Everybody is saying: "Go to Spain. Go to Greece. Go to the Caribbean." I agree. Everybody should go there. Makes things in Thailand much nicer for the people who are willing to bend a little to reality.

I've got family and friends who have gone through the Sandbox and not one of them said anything negative about the experience. It's not the same as it was, but that doesn't mean it's not still good.

[PapayaBokBok]

7 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

They still have 26 days to get the remaining 72k visitors.......... 

AHA Welcome TR..another defector from TV forums...555

[PapayaBokBok]

1 hour ago, JamesE said:

Clearly, you have not checked any prices. The bargains available right now are really borderline amazing. I can stay for two weeks in Phuket in a 55sq m ocean view room, a block off the beach, with breakfast for two people with airport transfers both ways, with transport to the testing centers for about US$800. When I add in the rest of my food, renting a scooter, paying for the tests, and flying to BKK when it's all done, I still come up with paying about the same money as a BKK ASQ - for one person.

There are a ton of reasons why everything's not perfect and why it seems poorly thought out, planned, and executed but these are the rules if you want to travel.

My internal monologue went: "I want to travel. What are the Rules? Those seem like a pain. Yup. But they're the rules if you want to travel. Okay, what's it cost? Really? You didn't misplace a decimal point? Nope. Sign. Me. Up."

And, yes. I realize there are hundreds of other destinations open without all the hoops to jump through right now. Everybody is saying: "Go to Spain. Go to Greece. Go to the Caribbean." I agree. Everybody should go there. Makes things in Thailand much nicer for the people who are willing to bend a little to reality.

I've got family and friends who have gone through the Sandbox and not one of them said anything negative about the experience. It's not the same as it was, but that doesn't mean it's not still good.

Ive got my fingers crossed for the Oct CNX opening as its my base..Ill jump thru the hoops if I can fly direct

[Ordinarybloke]

How are they calculating the money spent, are they going round to all the street food venders and ladies of the night and requesting daily figures?