Many businesses on Phuket, a holiday island in Thailand, are not so excited about this week's reopening of Thailand to foreign tourists.The pilot program for Thailand's rebirth of the tourism industry devastated by the pandemic is Phuket. It allows fully vaccinated tourists with negative coronavirus test to fly directly to the southern islands, bypassing the 14-day quarantine.Local businesses claim they've been neglected and don't expect much from the influx of tourists expected to arrive on Thursday. The Phuket that tourists will see is different from the one millions visited before the pandemic.You will find buildings for sale and rent, shops closed, convenience stores closed. Are you sure it is a safe environment for tourists? Srangsan Tantan, Phuket Tourism Entrepreneur Development Association, stated that the environment is not conducive to tourism. He also said that soft loans are needed urgently for businesses in dire need of them. It is very difficult to open, as we don't have the budget or the money to fix, repaint, and rebuild our business.According to an industry group, more than 2 million Thai tourists have lost their jobs since last January, with 400,000 of them in the first quarter 2021. The central bank governor stated that normalization of tourism would take at least five years.Thailand lost $50 billion in tourism revenue in the last year, as foreign arrivals plummeted 83% from its nearly 40 million visitors in 2019.Natchakanya Sanguanwong is the manager of Anchan spa. She said that many businesses will not see the revenue from the first batch of visitors who will be staying in government-accredited hotels.She explained that the spa could not reopen due to costs of utilities, staff and rent.Manager of Centara Grand Hotel, Manish Prathap said that his resort expects about 20% occupancy at first and then for it to double as the plan takes off.He said that guests and agents will have faith in the Phuket Sandbox program, as well.Kamonrat Thudphimai was the hotel's duty manager. She said that she was very excited.She said that she has been missing Christmas and other holidays because of it. We are hoping to see those moments again.(Written by Jiraporn Kuhakan, Martin Petty. Gerry Doyle editsJiraporn Kuhakan, Reuters, wrote this article and was licensed legally through the Industry Dive publisher system. All licensing inquiries should be directed to legal@industrydive.com
