Pattaya Mayor says city still plans to open to foreign vaccinated tourists by September 1st, developing final plans

Pattaya, Thailand-

  The Pattaya City Mayor, Sonthaya Khunplume, met with his deputy mayors and relevant tourism and business owners and agencies in Pattaya today, July 7th, to discuss the reopening of the city to foreign vaccinated tourists without a strict fourteen-day quarantine, like Phuket and soon to be Surat Thani.

First, you can read about the Phuket and Surat Thani plans by clicking below:

 The information on the Samui Plus program is here.

  The information on the Phuket Sandbox is here.

Finally, we have also commented on the current status of Pattaya HERE.

According to the Pattaya City Mayor, the city plans to open in September to foreign vaccinated tourists in a program similar to the Samui Plus program.  They have also explored the possibility of utilizing Koh Larn, where the majority of the population is vaccinated, like a Sandbox, although it is unknown if this will be part of the final plan. Regardless, the plan is to utilize the island as part of the program in some manner, even if it is for approved “sealed route” trips as part of the tourism plan. You can read a bit about that proposal here.

The Mayor stated that the plan was still contingent on getting 70% of Pattaya vaccinated with at least a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, which critics continually have stated online that they believe is unlikely based on the current state of vaccination in Pattaya.  The Mayor, however, has stated multiple times that vaccines, including ones privately ordered by Pattaya City, would be available “soon” without giving a specific date, and that the city has the logistics, staff, and infrastructure to roll out vaccines quickly. The latter portion, at least, even some of the staunchest critics agree with online, it is the supply that is the issue.

You can read about Pattaya’s private purchase of vaccines here.

The exact details about the plan to reopen the city have not been released and are still in the early planning stages but according to the Mayor, Pattaya officials are partnering with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to present the plan to the National Security Council and the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, in the very near future. TPN media notes that this would not be the “great reopening” of Pattaya and would likely have many rules and regulations for arrivals similar to Phuket and Surat Thani. There is also not a guarantee that Pattaya’s famous nightlife and entertainment industry, closed for about three months now, would be allowed to reopen for any planned return of foreign vaccinated tourists.

We will provide more updates as more information is released, according to the Mayor this should take place over the next several weeks.

Meanwhile, Chonburi continues to have hundreds of cases of Covid-19 a day, although the vast majority are in construction camps, markets, and factories where workers, many of them migrant workers, live in densely packed communities.