PHUKET, Thailand — As Thailand’s government prepares to celebrate its reopening to foreign tourists this week, many businesses on the holiday island of Phuket aren’t so enthusiastic about the return of visitors.
Phuket is a pilot program for Thailand’s reboot of a tourism industry gutted by the pandemic, allowing fully vaccinated visitors with negative coronavirus tests to fly directly to the southern island, bypassing 14-day quarantine requirements.
But local firms say they’ve been left behind and aren’t expecting much from the trickles of tourists due to arrive starting Thursday. Visitors will see a different Phuket from the one visite…
Keep on reading: As Thai tourist island reopens, small businesses say left behind