The party island of Phuket opens to those willing to follow its many rules

The party island of Phuket opens to those willing to follow its many rules

Starting July 1, tourists can visit Phuket without quarantining for the first time since March 2020. In Thailand's much-discussed "sandbox" pilot scheme, its largest island has reopened to vaccinated travelers who are willing to abide by a laundry list of rules designed to safely restart tourism amid the pandemic. The plan hinges on a concerted vaccination drive to immunize 70% of Phuket's population, a goal which local authorities said they met earlier this month with 74% of residents having been vaccinated. , which stands in stark contrast to Thailand's nationwide vaccination rate of around 4%. But confirmed Covid cases have dramatically fallen in Phuket. The island recorded single-digit daily cases this week, while Thailand as a whole reported its third-highest daily case total — 5,406 infections — on June 27. The "sandbox" plan turns Phuket into a testing ground for protocols that, if successful, will likely be introduced to other parts of Thailand — and potentially other destinations in Southeast Asia — this year. A test of tourists' appetite for rules But Phuket, like most of Southeast Asia, isn't making it easy for tourists to enter. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand