“This Wednesday [July 1] the park will reopen after more than two months of being closed. It will adjust its policies to serve tourism in this new normal era and to prevent Covid-19 from spreading,” he said. “To maintain social distancing, only 560 tourists will be allowed in at a time.”
Wongsakorn said the park estimated that 70 per cent of visitors would make entry reservations online via the QueQ mobile application, while 30 per cent would buy tickets at the entrance.
“All visitors must follow measures suggested by the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, such as wearing face masks at all times, going through screening checkpoints with thermal scanners and washing their hands regularly,” he added. “Most importantly, they must check in and check out using the Thai Chana application to get alerted if a new case is discovered.”
Originally known as Nai Yang National Park and renamed Sirinat National Park in 1992, the park covers 22 square kilometres of coast land and a 68 sq km sea area at Phuket’s northwest coast. It is best known for white sand beaches and mangrove forests, where a freshwater stream meets the sea, and clusters of coral reefs about 700 to 1,000 metres offshore.