alanmorison

THE RICE ''CRISIS'' on Phuket is sparking some unexpected consequences but the experts say the island's shortage is self-inflicted, caused by panic buying.

At least one construction company has blamed the rice shortage for a reduction in its staff.

The highly-regarded Thai workers took a break over the Songkran holiday. Many of them returned to their home villages in Isarn, and a sizeable number did not come back.

The construction boss was told that the price of rice on Phuket was too high, and rice hard to find, so they'd decided not to return.

At least, that's what the construction boss told his farang employer.

While the price of a five kilo bag of rice has risen 20 to 30 baht since Songkran, restaurants have yet to complain that they cannot serve customers.

The shortage, it seems, is solely in the minds of consumers and triggered by the way they react.

In some restaurants, Phuketwan has been told, staff think there's a shortage, so waiters and waitresses have been piling extra on their plates with their free meals . . . then finding they cannot eat it all.

Around the stores and supermarkets of Phuket, rice is difficult to find on the shelves. Here's an island wrapup:

Makro: No rice of any grade or type. Supplies have been on order for some time but no deliveries have arrived recently.

Tesco Lotus: Still some rice on the shelves but only some grades. Regular delivery orders have not been met.

Big C: No rice. Staff have talked to Bangkok suppliers, but the prices being quoted are rising rapidly.

Grade A rice has virtually vanished from Phuket.

The Trade Department of Phuket is carefully monitoring the amount of supplies of rice and prices, comparing their regular statistical analysis from past months with the crisis prices of April.

A spokeswoman for the department said the amount of rice arriving on Phuket before Songkran and now had not altered dramatically.

There were 10 companies that imported rice to Phuket. All of them are required to report their import figures to the department.

Department officials have been checking households at random in a survey to see how customers are reacting to the perception that rice might soon be in short supply.

''The shortage is entirely due to stockpiling,'' the spokeswoman said.

''People on Phuket are buying a lot more rice than they usually do. So some of the shelves in the stores and supermarkets are bare.''

The department says there is no shortage of government rice supplies in storage in Bangkok.

Like oil, rice prices are subject to global pressures and the prices were going up now because of demand in other countries.

If there was a real problem with rice supplies to Phuket through the 10 companies, the department would be able to call on department stocks in Bangkok, the spokeswoman said.

She added that panic buying often cost the customers money. Rice stored badly at home frequently went off on the shelves before people could eat it.

She urged buyers to only shop for their immediate needs and not stockpile rice, for many good reasons.

from phuketwan.com

THE PM's public acceptance of the need for Phuket to get a better financial deal will hearten the local business and government leaders who have been making more noise on behalf of the island lately.

Phuket brings a huge amount of income to Thailand through its growing attractiveness to tourists. What the island desperately needs is a fair return.

Yet its income for development is restricted to a much smaller amount calculated on the basis that the island has just 320,000 registered citizens.

Phuket's population is at least twice that, with tourists boosting the figure to about one million in some high season months.

The golden eggs won't keep getting laid unless the goose gets a decent feed every so often.

PM Samak Sundaravej seems to have accepted this in his call on radio on Sunday for special development of the island.

He even added that he would soon hold a meeting with government agencies to consider projects for the province.

The PM has proposed forming an executive board to speed up development in Phuket, a move some say would interfere with local authorities.

But other leading citizens say Phuket's biggest problem is that it has far too many local authorities.

One person who will welcome that news is Maitree Narukatpichai, President of the Phuket Tourist Association and owner of the Hilton Arcadia Phuket and Villa Zolitude.

''Phuket needs more independence,'' he says. ''Phuket needs to be able to select its own governors.

''As business people, we can do better if we have our own governor, if we have our own administration.

''It's very important. The politics have to be very stable in order to carry policies through. We have to stay with it, hoping that it will become better.''

In a wide-ranging interview with Phuketwan, Khun Maitree spoke frankly of Phuket's need for serious government investment to keep the tourism industry functioning properly.

Security on Phuket: ''Compared to the number of tourists, we still need 20 percent more police. We have more than five million tourists coming each year. The plan for the Region 8 southern headquarters for police to be transferred to Phuket may be suspended, so I hear, because of changes within the police department.

''If the Region 8 headquarters moves here, that would be good for Phuket. In a meeting with the new chief of Region 8, I explained the importance of security on Phuket. Police cannot cover everywhere. Sadly, another 500 police would not have saved the Swedish girl who was murdered at Mai Khao beach. Phuket is still safe, but it just happened that the perpetrator was there at that time. It was really unfortunate.''

Greater Phuket: ''I know of about 20 Thai resort companies who are looking at expanding quickly into Phang Nga. We have to go that way. The tourists that used to come more than 10 yerars ago, I ask them 'Are they still happy?' Europeans really choose to come to enjoy nature. I want more tourists but I want a long term business, not short term business. And I want people who live on Phuket to have a good quality of life. We don't want increasing problems with water, garbage and traffic.''

Theme Parks: ''I think Phuket needs more attractions, something new. Theme parks, if they do it right, I support them. We already have plenty of tourists, but what about the problems we are facing right now? Traffic, security, garbage.''

Local government: ''I still enjoy Phuket compared to Bangkok, where I came from 20 years ago. Frankly speaking, local governments lack vision. How well can they administrate the areas that they look after? Some of them lack vision and planning. They don't know what to do.''

Package tours: ''Phuket is improving but changing slowly. It depends on the business people. Some are dumping prices during the low season, not improving quality. The basic problem we have to solve at the moment is that business people only think about business. We need to adjust slowly to receive more quality tourists.''

more at phuketwan.com

A NEW two billion baht terminal is to be built at Phuket International Airport as a record number of arrivals and departures speeds its own journey towards maximum capacity.

The race is now on to stay ahead of the island's growing popularity.

Under a seven-year plan, the new terminal will eventually accommodate 15 million passengers a year. Phuket will not be able to handle more.

But first, the airport is to gain a temporary carpark at a cost of about 10 million baht to cope with the pressures of an astonishing number of travellers.

A total of 38,368 domestic and international flights landed and took off from the airport in 2007, a 32.34 percent increase on the previous year.

The general manager of the airport, Wicha Nurnlop, and his senior management team revealed to Phuketwan on April 24 that planning is in place to deal with the unpredicted rate of growth in Phuket's popularity.

It's little wonder that the existing 420-space carpark is overflowing.

The number of tourists travelling to the island has far exceeded expectations, and at times, flights arrive in a rush.

At one critical stage, the airport handled 11 in-bound flights in an hour. That kind of pressure helped to hasten the decision to expand the airport as fast as possible.

First item on the airport management team's strategic agenda is enlargement of the carpark, where at present visitors are forced to double up in single-vehicle spaces or even park in the street.

''The capacity for both buses and cars is being exceeded,'' Khun Wicha said. ''We are going to create a temporary car park behind the administration block.''

Talks are taking place with concessionaires. Work is expected to begin on the carpark ''in the next few months.''

About 5.5 million passengers arrived last year, with the expanded existing airport now able to handle a maximum of 6.5 million.

Although the controlling Airports of Thailand organisation has a new board, the go-ahead has already been given for major works that will bring big changes at the airport.

''We are going to build a new terminal,'' Khun Wicha said. ''It will take about two years. We have to first present the project to the local authorities to conform with their needs.''

Given the extraordinary growth in the incoming-outgoing figures, can Phuket cope while the new terminal is being built?

''That's a good question,'' Khun Wicha said. ''That's quite a challenge for us. The passenger traffic has grown faster than we have estimated.

''We have development that was anticipated over five years now taking place within three years.

''On day to day operations, we will have to confront many problems, including a shortage of areas for the passengers.

''We already have finished the previous extension process that relieved the problem of passenger check-in.''

Why has there been such an increase in flights?

''Phuket is still relatively cheap as a destination, although some local property prices are expensive.In tropical areas around the world, you cannot find a better destination.

''Many countries have beaches. But if you want to have everything, beautiful beaches, warm water, coral both deep and shallow, Phuket has all these things.''

What about the pressure from the growing size aircraft?

''Today the airport can accommodate most of the biggest aircraft in the world, including the Boeing 747 and the Airbus 340. We cannot accommodate the A380. If they land here, the island will sink.'' (Laughter all round). ''Not many countries can accommodate that aircraft. It's very big.''

And the growing number of flights? Can Phuket cope?

''We think about that question every day. Now we have 120 flight on average every 24 hours. The problem is not the number of flights but the aircraft parking zones.

''We have 23 parking lots and seven of those can accommodate 747s at the same time.

''Because of these limitations, we are going to expand with a new terminal and increase the number of spaces for aircraft.

''It will be a carefully designed new terminal because we have limited space at the airport. We can buy no more land. They have to build within the limitation of existing space.

''Under our seven year project we want to be able to accommodate 15 million passengers. After we build the new terminal, we are going to eliminate the old one.''

from phuketwan.com

At Phuketwan I took the trouble to call the resort's general manager and she said that it was a spectacular fire, but caused no real damage. You'd never know that from the way the blaze is presented in other media. Great photo, shame about the story.

I recently interviewed Australian honorary consul Larry Cunningham and he told me that as few as one in 10 sex attacks on Phuket on tourists actually are reported. This is sad because, as Cunningham says, the perpetrators imagine they can do it again and get away with it. He said the situation is similar in Bangkok and Pattaya. The issue gets put to one side by everyone involved . . . until there is a murder. What Cunningham told me can be found in detail at Phuketwan website. It's very rare for an Australian diplomat to be given permission to talk to the media.

I recently talked to Australian honorary consul Larry Cuningham and he told me some harrowing stories about incidents involving tourists on Phuket. Most alarming of all: he reckons only one in 10 sex attacks are reported, and the perpetrators are emboldened because they get away with it. My interview with Larry is now on phuketwan in full, for those who are interested.