Hua Hin targets 350k jabs before flood of foreign tourists from Oct 1
Hua Hin is racing to vaccinate 70 per cent of residents so it can open to quarantine-free foreign tourism from October 1.
Under the “Hua Hin recharge” project, hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses have joined with hospitals and government agencies in a four-month push to vaccinate the international seaside resort.
“We need vaccination to start in June with second doses administered by August,” said local Thai Chamber of Commerce committee member Krod Rojanastien.
This will require just over 350,000 doses of vaccine to fully inoculate 176,749 of Hua Hin’s 213,979 residents so the city can welcome vaccinated foreign tourists without quarantine, he added.
Mass vaccination in Hua Hin is due to start on June 7.
The city is targeting 100,000 foreign tourist arrivals generating more than 1.2 billion baht in the fourth quarter this year.
More than 89,000 people work in Hua Hin’s tourism and service sector, which has been ravaged by the Covid-19 crisis.
Tourism is Hua Hin's main source of income and employment, generating 43.1 billion baht in 2019. But local tourism-related businesses have shut down in droves during the Covid travel ban, leaving thousands of workers jobless.
Hua Hin is also popular with internal retirees, who play a significant role in boosting the local economy.
Tourism operators in the city say overseas demand to visit Hua Hin is high if quarantine can be waived for vaccinated foreign tourists.
