Policy Experimentation: A Case Study of “Phuket Sandbox”

Abstract

This qualitative research study the problem and essence of the policy of "Phuket Sandbox" and explores a policy experimentation process of Phuket Sandbox project, which had been implemented during January 2020 to December 2022. The researcher acquired data from official documents and took in-depth-interviewed with key informant persons who represented stakeholders from public, business, and community sectors during January 2020 to December 2022. The results showed that the process of implementing the Phuket Sandbox project has been successful in implementing a policy of accepting foreign tourists. in controlling the spread of disease within the area and achieve the objectives of the policy to revitalize the tourism economy in Phuket to start again after the epidemic situation of the corona virus 2019 has subsided. The research findings disclosed four stages of policy experimentation process, including pre-experimentation, experimentation, learning and adaptation, and diffusion. A key success of policy experimentation process stemmed from a co-production of public-private and community stakeholders. Phuket Sandbox Project has brought back tourist economy to Phuket and neighboring provinces within one years. It was proved from the case of Phuket sandbox that policy experimentation could pre-assessed policy hypotheses and reduce unfavorable impacts before launching full-scale policies.