The numbers were announced at a meeting of the Joint Public-Private Sector Committee on Developing and Solving Economic Problems in Phuket Province, chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan.
Joining the meeting were heads of local government agencies, including Nanthasiri Ronnasiri, Chief of the Phuket branch of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Also present was Asst Prof Dr Chayanon Phucharoen, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies under the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism at Prince of Songkla University Phuket Campus.
The objective of the meeting was for attendees to be updated on the tourism situation in Phuket and preparations for receiving tourists during the high season, said a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).
At the meeting it was confirmed that there were currently 11,351 public transport vehicles in Phuket.
Of those were 378 buses, 518 minibuses (vans) and 518 tuk-tuks.
The remainder were described as 6,342 “non-buses” and 277 metered taxis.
The meeting resolved for a public relations campaign to be launched for tourists to use “the correct and legal vehicles”, the report said.
The public relations materials will be in English, the report added.
Among the other key issues raised at the meeting, this time by a representative from the private sector, was the labour shortage problem currently being experienced in Phuket’s tourism sector.
Phuket hoteliers have long warned of a ‘dire’ hospitality skills shortage on the island, and have been investigating ‒ and enacting ‒ their own strategies to prepare their staff for the return of tourists in numbers. (See stories here and here.)
“Therefore, I would like to ask the Phuket Provincial Employment Office to hold employment promotion activities and meetings to attract workers from other provinces to work in the Phuket area to support job vacancies that will increase during the tourist season,” the representative said.
Ketwadee Piyamethinruj, marketing representative for the Southern Regional Office of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) asked for the Phuket Provincial Government to expedite the budget of B1.411 billion for the project “to upgrade Phuket health tourism to a world-class health tourism city” by developing a “medical plaza” in Mai Khao, said the report.
“If the budget is received, the project will be progressed accordingly,” Ms Ketwadee said.