Thailand’s Surat Thani province will continue the “Samui Plus” program to attract vaccinated foreign tourists, with Bangkok Airways set to resume flights between Phuket and Samui Island on 25 August.
Surat Thani governor Witchawut Jinto said on 21 August, that 257 inoculated foreign tourists had traveled to Samui, after spending two weeks in Phuket under the “sandbox” scheme. However, flights between Phuket and Samut had been suspended from 3 August until the end of month. This means no tourists will arrive from “sandboxed” Phuket.
He said that, after concerted lobbying, flights on the Phuket-Samui route would resume earlier. Bangkok Airways is scheduling flights between the two islands on 25, 27 and 30 August. This will boost the number of tourists arriving under the “Samui Plus” scheme, which encompasses Koh Samui, Koh Phan Ngan and Koh Tao.
The governor said, from 15 August to November, 168 fully-vaccinated tourists had already made bookings on Samui, with reservations for 2,149 hotel nights, an average of 12.7 nights per visitor. The reservations were made by French, German, British, Austrian, American and Thai tourists
