Hua Hin reaffirms plans to reopen to tourists on Oct 1, despite slow vaccine rollout
Hua Hin is still aiming to reopen to foreign tourists on October 1, despite being some way off its vaccination target.
On Wednesday, Prompiriya Kitnuson, Prachuap’s deputy governor, gave an update on plans to reopen the resort to vaccinated foreign tourists, as well as the vaccination rollout in the town.
Under the “Hua Hin Recharge” project, the town will reopen to vaccinated foreigners without the need to quarantine on October 1, Mr Prompiriya said.
He added that so-called “sealed routes” will be drawn up for tourists. It is understood this will be from Hua Hin town centre down towards the Seapine Golf Club.
Mr Prompiriya also gave an update on the progress of the vaccine rollout in the town. He said that so far approximately 8% of the local population have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The target is to have 70% of the local population and 100% of the 89,000 workers in Hua Hin’s tourism industry vaccinated before Sept 30 in order to re-open on Oct 1.
Mr Prompiriya said the vaccine rollout will be helped by the 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine ordered by Hua Hin Municipality which will be given to people registered as living in Hua Hin.
Regarding the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, Mr Prompiriya said the situation is a concern but remains under control as most of the cases are linked to the existing cluster discovered at the Dole fruit processing factory.
Mr Prompiriya added that currently 969 people are receiving treatment for COVID-19 but the province has capacity to treat a total of 1,540 patients in hospitals and field hospitals.
Reopening Hua Hin on October 1 will bring in an estimated 1.2 billion baht in revenue before the end of the year, Mr Prompiriya said.
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