Phuket Opinion: On the tourism horizon

This time last year, after peaking with tourist arrivals numbering in the mid- to high-4,000s over the New Year,  the number of arrivals plunged to 2,609 on Jan 4 ‒ thanks to the Omicron outbreak..

This year the daily average of international arrivals at the airport is bouncing between 10,000 and 12,000, with some 35,000 in total expected to arrive to enjoy the island over the New Year break.

The number of arrivals is expected to continue to steadily trend upwards, as more people venture from their home countries for their long-awaited respite from the COVID lockdowns followed by financial hardship brought on by the global recession.

Leading tourism figures are calling for more direct flights to Phuket to serve the pent-up demand now being served, instead of having tourists arrive via Bangkok. Yet the announcement that the Chinese market can resume from Jan 8 deserves caution.

The last time tourists from Mainland China were served en masse their drain on resources took the island’s infrastructure to breaking point. This is no slight on the Chinese tourists, it is a simple matter of numbers. The decision to allow so many tourists on the island in the past lay at the feet of the Thai government and Thai tourism industry ‒ not the Chinese tourists coming to enjoy Phuket just like people from any other country.

During the COVID tourism shutdown, Phuket once again became that island paradise that so many people living in colder climates pine for. The beaches, bereft of tourists, were as stunning as the postcards, the streets were cleaner ‒ and safer. Today, we are staring down the barrel of a return to the pre-COVID strain on the island that made Phuket lose its appeal so much for so many that they chose not to return.

As already marked mid-last year, thanks to the pandemic, Phuket’s tourism industry has been afforded an opportunity to rebrand and rebuild, and avoid the hole we dug for ourselves just five years ago. Promoting the beaches while piles of trash sit just metres from the sand, in plain sight of tourists walking to and from the beach, is not acceptable.

Beyond that, there is the inevitable strain on our water reserves, the beach water itself faces a return of wastewater taint, not to mention what the immediate future of traffic on the island entails. The completion of the road megaprojects now green-lighted under the banner of the Expo 2028 bid are still four long years away.

While loudly repeating the same information over and over again like an inept salesperson, our leading officials have not even whispered what the projections for traffic are while construction is underway.

Meanwhile, Patong’s storm drains and roads need serious attention, Phuket Town’s parking availability remains strained, Cherng Talay needs contruction containment, the development of Nai Yang and Mai Khao needs clear direction before they too become eyesore ’beach areas’, and Karon and Kata need help just putting on a bright, clean appearance after being battered by the tourism shutdown.

There is much to look forward to as we enter 2023, but if we do not avoid our mistakes of the past, as the saying goes, we are doomed to repeat them. We have already been warned by the impacts of the unsustainable tourism push of 2017-19. There is no need to go down that road again.