Which Asian countries are ready to open on the principle of Phuket sandbox?
To receive tourists on the principle of Phuket "sandbox" could Indonesian Bali, Vietnamese Phu Quoc and Malaysian Langkawi.
In 2019, the island of Bali received almost 10.5 million tourists (in 2020 – 4.5 million), Phu Quoc in Vietnam – 5.1 million guests (in 2020 – slightly more than 387 thousand tourists), 3.9 million people rested on the island of Langkawi in Malaysia in 2019, and 1.6 million travelers on the island of Boracay in the Philippines.
Sandbox is a term from the English-language IT environment, for programmers it means a utility that allows you to run various applications in a secure, isolated environment. By analogy, Thailand is going to restart tourism.
In 2019, Phuket received 10.5 million tourists, and according to the results of the two months of the sandbox program, a total of 24,190 tourists came to the island - from the United States, Great Britain, Israel, Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
In Thailand, an increase in tourist flow is expected due to Russians vaccinated by Sputnik V, who will be allowed to come to Phuket without quarantine from September 1.
Thanks to the recognition of Sputnik V, Thailand may receive up to 500 thousand Russians in 2021. Experts of the domestic travel market do not share such optimism - the entry conditions are tough.
Russia has no direct communication with Thailand. You can get there only with a transfer on planes directly flying to Phuket.
The successful implementation of the Sandbox program can help restore tourism in other Asian countries. One could create a series of sandboxes, for example, in Bali, Phu Quoc Island, Langkawi.
Ho Kwon Ping, chief executive of international hotel brand Banyan Tree Holdings, believes that Bali is most similar to Phuket. Tourism is equally important to the economy. There are also international airports and the island is just as popular and beautiful.”
Bali was indeed close to discovering, but the worsening situation with the spread of the coronavirus adjusted plans. It is not possible to name the exact date of opening the country for tourists.
However, there is good news for Russian tourists – Indonesia has allowed the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. This means that as soon as the country is ready to receive tourists, Russians will also be able to return. Yes, probably, Indonesia will open according to a similar Phuket “Sandbox” scheme.
As for Vietnam, according to the strategy of restarting international tourism, the country will initially allow tourists only to Phu Quoc Island.
It will be a pilot region that will be the first in Vietnam to receive immunized foreigners, including Russians (Sputnik V approved).
Malaysia plans to start accepting foreigners at the end of this year. Only Langkawi Island will be accessible to tourists.
However, local media, citing authorities, reported that Langkawi will not completely repeat the program “sandbox” Phuket. Vaccinated foreign travelers are expected to undergo a brief period of self-isolation when the island is ready to host them in December 2021 or January 2022.
Malaysia is preparing to restart domestic tourism. Presumably, this will happen in the first week of September, when the vaccination rate of the local population will reach 80%.
Source: atorus