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halfway inn:

Explosion at Phuket Provincial Hall, bomb suspected


Police inspect the scene of the explosion at Provincial Hall

PHUKET: -- The Phuket Gazette has confirmed reports of an explosion at the Phuket Provincial Hall complex in Phuket Town happened  just after 2pm on Thursday 01-08-2013.

Police officers at the scene found the remains of a clock and batteries among the debris from an explosion that emanated from a green plastic trash can in the car park in front of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO) building.

Three cars were damaged in the explosion.

So far, no injuries have been reported.

halfway inn:
'Father of tourism' slams Phuket greed


Wichit na Ranong: The father of Phuket Tourism.

PHUKET: -- Wichit na Ranong – known to many on Phuket as the Father of Phuket Tourism – has weighed into the growing debate over the industry on the island, slamming greed and delivering “a last warning” to the island that it must clean up its act.

Interviewed by a new Thai-language magazine, Saphan Hin, Mr Wichit, whose family owns the Pearl Hotel in Phuket Town, the Indigo Pearl Resort at Nai Yang Beach, and the Toyota dealerships on the island, among other businesses, said that the lack of any real tourism planning had allowed the island to spiral “out of control”.

The result, he says, is general disorganisation, with deteriorating environment: dirty and unorganised beach area, airport congestion, traffic jams, negative impact on local people and other problems. “Tourists want to come to Phuket, which has resulted in more and more business people wanting to invest in Phuket, establishing hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

“But people’s greed has grown, which has resulted in their good-heartedness shrivelling and criminality growing.

“The problems have been evident for a while”, he says, “manifesting in environmental degradation and a rising tide of criticisms from tourists, and growing bad effects on ordinary local people. Tourism should not have a negative impact on local people.”

He warned that Phuket may no longer be counted as a world class tourism destination because of a slide in the overall quality of the destination.

“Tourists come to Phuket for the beach and if the beach is not attractive, there is no reason for them to come.

We don’t have to try to improve any other facilities if the core product is deteriorating as the tourists won’t come any way.”

He also criticised central and local authorities for their inability to address the problems.

“Most of the governing bodies in Phuket, unfortunately, don’t understand tourism development in depth yet and there is no evidence that they have engaged any expert for advice.

“They may know tourism from the tourist’s perspective, but do not consider the view of professional tourism administrators to manage the destination.

This has created a concern as they have both money and authority, but fail to do their job thoroughly.”he argues.

“Moreover, governors appointed by the Central Government come for just a short period of time and move on. “How could they solve the problems in such a time frame?

“I have heard many people say they come and they go but the problems stay.

“The old problems remain unsolved and the new ones are accumulating.

“Central to fixing Phuket’s woes, he said in the interview, “is cleaning up the messiness along the island’s beaches.

“Phuket’s beaches are the core products.

There are many shops, bars, food stalls, restaurants, sun beds, discotheques and others businesses along the beach that make a mess out of the core product itself.

“The beaches must be clean and and well organized, otherwise it is useless trying to improve or create other attractive services and facilities.”

At the end of the interview, Mr Wichit urges the next generation of business people on the island, “Be the leader and not the follower for the products and services. Be creative.

“And be honest to your own profession and your guests

Mr Wichit is a direct descendant of famed 19th Century Phuket Governor Kaw Sim Bee.

In the 1980s, recognising that the tin industry on the island was in permanent decline, he led the drive to establish a new industry, tourism, to take its place, successfully lobbying the government to support it, and making many overseas trips to establish the island on the tourism map.

Mr Wichit is the first President of the Tourism Council of Thailand and was the founding president of the Phuket Tourist Association.

He was also formerly on the board of Thai Airways International and Tourism Authority of Thailand.

halfway inn:
Temporary terminal to provide quick relief for Phuket Airport


Phuket's existing terminal is jammed

PHUKET: -- The overcrowded Phuket International Airport will get some quick relief by the end of the year with a new temporary passenger terminal.

The board of Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) last week endorsed a B145-million maximum budget for building the facility, designed to provide much-needed capacity before the airport’s main expansion, costing B5.8 billion, is completed in mid-2015.

The approval came as the AoT board also asked management to conduct a feasibility study for a second runway at Phuket to meet future demand growth once the current expansion is finished, AoT executives said.

Unique Engineering and Construction Plc was given a preliminary mandate from the board to build the temporary terminal, a single-storey building with usable floor space of 1,400 square metres, subject to price negotiations.

When completed in December the temporary terminal, to be built in 120 days on four rai currently used as a football pitch, will have the capacity to handle 3 million passengers a year.

It will be a glass-and-steel structure designed in harmony with the terminal featured in the main expansion.

Because it will be located away from the existing terminal, the temporary facility, equipped with 10 check-in counters, will be used for passengers on international charter flights, who will then be transferred by bus to the main terminal for security and immigration processing.

The temporary terminal will provide much-needed capacity at Phuket airport, whose traffic volume is expected to reach 10.5 million passenger movements this year, well beyond the 6.5 million official capacity of the existing terminal.

The ongoing permanent expansion will increase Phuket’s annual passenger handling to 12.5 million movements.

The new multi-storey permanent terminal, capable of handling 5 million passengers a year, will be for international travellers.

The present terminal will be used solely for domestic passengers once its upgrade is done in mid-2015, giving it a yearly capacity of 7.5 million passengers – for a total airport capacity of 12.5 million.

All the construction will only allow the airport to catch up with traffic; if numbers continue to grow at the current rate, Phuket is projected to see 12 million movements or more by 2015, when the new international terminal opens.

Meanwhile, AoT management has orders to assess the possibility of building a second runway at Phuket by acquiring adjoining land now occupied by state bodies such as the Royal Thai Navy.

The board is to consider an initial plan for the second runway at its next meeting on Aug 28.

Pratuang Sonkham, general manager of Phuket airport, earlier said a second runway would be needed in 10-15 years, as well as capacity to handle an additional 10 million passengers a year.

It was not clear how long the new runway would be. Phuket’s existing runway is not long enough for fully laden Boeing 747s or Airbus A380s to take off (with a good safety margin for an aborted take-off).

This means the island’s airport can take only smaller aircraft, resulting in a higher number of aircraft movements.

The Phuket News

halfway inn:
Tourist Assistance Centre opens office in Phuket Town


Santi Pawai: Tourism Ministry has been asked to approve a new building for the TAC.

PHUKET: -- The Tourist Assistance Centre (TAC) has opened a second, temporary, office to help tourists, at Surakul Stadium on the edge of Phuket Town.

There is already a TAC office at Phuket International Airport, and offices in 10 other provinces apart from Phuket.

Santi Pawai, director of the Phuket Office of Tourism and Sport, to whom the local TAC reports, told The Phuket News, “I believe more TACs will be established in other provinces to provide help for tourists.

“Currently we have only 10 staff in Phuket [covering both offices]. I want to get more in preparation for the Asean Economic Community [in December 2015] and because the numbers of tourists are continually increasing.

“I think the TAC is an advantage for Phuket tourism because we can help tourists to understand things and give them correct information.”

The office at the stadium is temporary, he added. “The TAC will have a new building. I have already sent a request for approval of the idea to the Ministry of Tourism and Sport.”

So far, however, a site for the new building has not been identified.

TAC staff man the airport office around the clock, but the stadium office will be open only during normal office hours.

The TAC cooperates closely with the Tourist police and other police, the Marine Department and the Tourist Association of Thailand to solve tourists’ problems.

Mr Santi said, “Anyone can call the TAC for help with tourists’ problems. The number is 076 327 100.”

halfway inn:
AUSSIES A DRAIN ON PHUKET HOSPITALS

PHUKET: -- Australian visitors - mostly males in their 30s and without health insurance -- are posing an increasing drain on public hospitals budgets on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

The island has become increasingly popular with not only tourists, but also retirees and long-term foreign residents lured by the lower cost of living.

But the Thai public hospital system is facing an increasing financial burden from the high expense of caring for ill, cash-strapped foreign visitors.

Dr Nara Kingkaew, deputy director of Vachira Public Hospital in Phuket, says Australians are among the leading foreign patients who seek medical care at public hospitals because they don't have insurance.

"It's a lot of problem because it's a great burden for us to look after the foreigners, especially the Westerners who come to Thailand without any health insurance and then they fall sick or are met with an accident," Dr Nara told AAP.

There are about 30,000 Australians on Phuket in any given month out of a total of about 900,000 Australian visitors to Thailand each year.

Other nationals include Russians, British and Germans.

Dr Nara noted an Australian man who fell from a Patong Beach Hotel spent several months in hospital recuperating from his injuries, including broken legs and hips, before being discharged. He was unable to pay the cost of his hospital stay, which amounted to about $A10,000.

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