The order follows the heavily critical report by the Sunday Times, written by respected journalist Jonathan Miller, exposing the experience tourists are subjected to after being ordered to quarantine in a “hospitel”.
“Living like a prisoner who pays for himself,” Mr Miller wrote.
Governor Narong warned officials to ensure that quarantine facilities were appropriate and adequate, and that hospitals were prepared to provide treatment to tourists who test positive to level expected.
“We need to take lessons in how to provide services to COVID-19 infected tourists in the form of hospitels, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released the vaccination criteria for travellers into Thailand [under Test & Go and Phuket Sandbox entry schemes] starting on Feb 1,” Governor Narong said.
“If an infection is detected, they [the tourist] must be quarantined under the conditions and forms strictly according to the Ministry of Health measures in the form of hospitels,” Governor Narong said.
“There is a lot of feedback from tourists which the relevant sectors have jointly discussed and formulated guidelines for raising standards,” he added.
Phuket currently has 11 hospitels to accommodate tourists, altogether providing 1,529 beds, with each hospitel having a hospital contracted to provide medical services, Governor Narong noted.
“Phuket is open for tourists again from Feb 1 onwards, and open to all countries, as long as the tourists have received the full dose of a vaccine,” he said.