PHUKET: The number of tourist arrivals landing at Phuket International Airport has plunged as the island starts to record a return to hundreds of new COVID infections in the past few days.
Only on Tuesday (Jan 4) were leading Phuket tourism officials were calling for people to protect themselves from the outbreak of Omicron infections spreading across the island, citing stringent action to be taken to prevent the island’s already battered tourism industry from suffering more heavy losses.
Phuket had enjoyed a relatively successful New Year, with TAT Phuket Director Nanthasiri Ronnasiri pointing out, “During the four-day New Year’s holiday the income from tourism in Phuket amounted to B1.36 billion.”
However, the number of infections recorded since have spiralled upward, from 46 on Dec 29 to 256 recorded yesterday (Jan 6). Of the 256, 159 were staffers working on Bangla Rd, Patong, who tested positive in an ATK mass-testing push organised by nightlife venue owners.
After peaking with tourist arrivals numbering in the mid- to high-4,000s over the New Year, the “Phuket Reopening Daily Report” issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reported 3,860 arrivals for Monday (Jan 3), falling to 2,609 on Tuesday (Jan 4).
By Wednesday (Jan 5), the TAT reported just 1,972 arrivals, comprising 742 Test & Go arrivals and 1,229 Sandbox arrivals. Of those, 10 Test & Go arrivals tested positive for COVID-19 on landing at Phuket airport, as did 46 Sandbox arrivals.
The TAT “Phuket Reopening Daily Report” for yesterday (Jan 6), marked a slight improvement, with 2,847 arrivals in total. Of those, 1,081 were Test & Go arrivals (with 61 testing positive on arrival) and 1,747 were Sandbox arrivals (with 97 testing positive on landing).
The graphs issued in the Phuket Immigration Daily Report show the dramatic impact in the fall in the number of arrivals.
The Phuket Immigration report for yesterday marked that Russians were still the top source market for tourist arrivals since Nov 1, with 24,527 Russians arriving on the island. Second were Germans with 14,323 arrivals, followed by the UK (10,900), Sweden (8,527) and France (6,868).
The last five of the ‘Top 10’ were Kazakhstan, Israel, the US, Thai, Swiss nationals, respectively.
Phuket officials have now publicly recognised a slew of critical issues affecting tourism to Phuket, including critical flaws in the Thailand Pass approval process and lack of support for tourists seeking advice and assistance in clearing the process.
Other critical issues to be addressed include forcing tourists who test positive ‒ but exhibit no symptoms of infection ‒ to remain in their hotel rooms instead of being taken into the local healthcare system
Phuket officials and leading tourism figures have yet to comment on the dramatic fall in the number of arrivals over the past two days.
Source: The Phuket News