The Phuket Sandbox has been up and running for over a month now. The ‘sandbox’ allows foreigners, who have received a covid-19 vaccination, to travel directly into Phuket without the requirement to quarantine upon arrival.
The start of the sandbox has been a success with over 14,000 arrivals in July. With direct flights between Hong Kong and Phuket starting in August the numbers are expected to increase. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) reported that July’s arrivals generated a much needed 829m THB for the local economy with the largest number of arrivals coming from the USA, UK and Israel. The TAT predicts 100,000 foreign tourists to enter Phuket through the sandbox between July and September.
What does this mean for Phuket’s rental market which has suffered greatly from the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic? At Baan Wise we have seen an increase in enquires for long term rental of our properties and we have secured several new long-term tenants during the past month, with these people coming in through the sandbox. Due to both domestic and global travel restrictions we don’t expect the holiday rental market will recover in the near future, so we encourage our owners to look for long term tenants, 3 months to 1 year leases during this time. As always we provide full management services to owners and tenants, including tenant check-ins and liaising with the guests throughout their stay to ensure they are as comfortable as possible and the properties they are renting are well maintained.
Who can travel to Phuket from abroad?
• Vaccinated Thai and foreign travellers from listed countries (see the list below)
• Unvaccinated children under 18 years old traveling with vaccinated parents
Phuket SandBox Requirements
• Vaccine Certificate/proof of vaccination
• ThailandPlus alert application on mobile phone
• RT-PCR COVID 19 test before arrival in Phuket
• COVID-19 Insurance
• Certificate of Entry (COE) issued by Thai Embassy/Consulate
• Stay at SHA+ Hotel in Phuket and Sealed Routes
• Pre-paid RT-PCR COVID 19 tests in Phuket
***Full vaccination at least 14 days prior to your departure to Thailand and not more than 12 months.
For more details see here https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/no-quarantine-phuket-sandbox-plan