"Expensive" Phuket dead as a dodo this high season

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, jak2002003 said:

Looks lovely.  Nice and quiet.  Might go there next week.  

 

Maybe the tourists were put off, not by the price, but by the dirty, smelly and scruffy streets, rubbish on the beach, and polluted brown sea water?  

 

 

all ads up....

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, phuketrichard said:

junk ceylon at noon yesterday was very busy and more farangs than Chinese,which is a nice change,

Kamalabeach over the past week has seen a huge increase in people on the beach

Trafiic between Kamala and Central last week was double what it was the week beofre.

 

Yea,go out at 9 am on beach road in Patong it will be empty!!

 

lots of eastern people, many looking like putin

[Oziex1]

3 hours ago, Issanman said:

I just spent two weeks in Patong. It certainly was not dead.

All of the beaches I went to were very clean, as were the streets.

Great deals on good food were not hard to find.

Plenty of friendly people.

I will be going back.

How did you find the costs, expensive?

[terminatorchiangmai]

Not only Phuket , all over Thailand it is quiet now.

Don't hear the TAT saying anything about that.

Last month all was good and booming after lifting visa fees, while we all knew that wasn't true.

[upu2]

3 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Looks lovely.  Nice and quiet.  Might go there next week.  

 

Maybe the tourists were put off, not by the price, but by the dirty, smelly and scruffy streets, rubbish on the beach, and polluted brown sea water?  

 

 

I thought those were the reasons people went to Phuket

[Psimbo]

Suits me- Phuket was reaching saturation point. I have noticed Kamala is extremely quiet this year at night but it works for me. There has been an increase in tourists but its not as big as last year. Big C seems to be doing a roaring trade and the bars are suffering.

 

I have no interest in touristy stuff so the downturn doesn't affect me either way. It does make me laugh reading some of the comments of the 'Phuket Knockers' though- they never change their record.

 

Unlike others I don't find Phuket too expensive (and I don't hang around 7-11s either). Maybe expensive for a holiday but once one lives here its easy to settle into a routine. When I go up to Pattaya I find its far more expensive but that's because I am in holiday mode.

Edited December 17, 2018 by Psimbo

[Psimbo]

3 hours ago, Issanman said:

I just spent two weeks in Patong. It certainly was not dead.

All of the beaches I went to were very clean, as were the streets.

Great deals on good food were not hard to find.

Plenty of friendly people.

I will be going back.

How dare you go against the winds of comment - you will be smote with a bolt of lightning from above! ????

 

Remember- Phuket= baaaaad, the rest of Thailand = gooooooooood. This must be chanted 6 times a day until the naysayers convert you.

 

Nicce to see positive comment from someone who has actual recent knowledge of visiting here.

[Oziex1]

3 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Phuket is not alone in having very few tourists. Pattaya looks like the depths of low season compared with a few years back. It will be tough for TAT to spin some lies to pretend this is not the case, when the evidence, or lack of it, is clearly visible to all. Thailand has problems with its tourist industry, and it is time for the denial to stop.

Remember the guy who recently said tourism was down by 20% he was replaced by the guy who said it was up by 20%.

[LivinginKata]

Been mentioned already but worth saying again that the high value Baht makes prices at least 10% higher, in some cases 20%. GBP in the toilet, AUD and SGD 15% down. USD remains stable. I don't follow the Euro.

[yellowboat]

Bangkok is getting the same way.   The junta supposedly use to cringe when people use to call Thailand a cheap holiday destination.  Now it is no longer cheap, welcoming and remains unsafe, unlike Malaysia and Vietnam.  Mind blowing ignorance at play.

[Joe Mcseismic]

I'm betting those photos were taken between 06:30 am and 07:00 am.

[Pilotman]

I last went to Phuket 5 years ago. I vowed never to return.  The airport experience was  horrific, the place was as expensive as Bangkok, with no claim to be better than the  Capital in anything, and to top it all,  I found the  people to be unwelcoming if not downright  unfriendly. 

[tifino]

 

sama sama StreetView image of Oct2017

without the date stamp one would see any difference between the then and now...

[meinphuket]

3 hours ago, Nielsk said:

Why not ?  Good with comparison to put things in perspective !!

Because it is Phuket specific, and does not suggest there will be any benchmarking against other destinations. So, if you want that, then start your own topic in the vein of 'Phuket tourism versus Pattaya tourism' Have a nice day !

[Zack61]

You reap what you sow. 

[madmen]

Tuk Tuk mafia playing candi crush all day and fares jacked up to 500 baht to make up for lost business.

The downfall of phuket was always on the cards

[milwaukeeboy]

I noted to myself back in '91 when it Phuket, "This place is too damn expensive and the locals all treat me like a rube. Best to not patronize such a place."

And I have never been back. It also didn't help that at that time I went into a huge disco called, "Titanic" where I made the observation that over half the females were born as males.

[Zack61]

I get price shock convulsions every time I think of Phuket. 

In the north here things cost a pittance in comparison. 

My brother and his wife used to come over religiously for 2 weeks a year but have now opted for better value in Bali. Phuket’s loss as they were good spenders. I guess you can only milk a cow for so long. 

[connda]

Looks like Big Joke's campaign to get rid of foreigners is working!  Good job!

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

The folklore story of the goose who laid golden eggs comes to minds right now...

 The place is dependant on tourists providing thousands of jobs.

 

How come the shops / businesses / tour agencies / tour providers / boat owners and operators didn't start to work together to make some industry self regulations etc., to protect their industry?

 

By the way have any locals seen any obviously noticeable changes in safety regulations, and even more important actual safety behaviors in the way sea travel / dive tours operate?

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by scorecard

[Deli]

Went to a Restaurant on beach road Saturday evening, normally best taboes at 09.00 p.m. are all taken.

Surprise... all empty and free to choose. Beauty parlor next door dead empty, bars the same.

Bangla Road with rip off prices, THB 120 for a small Singha. Empty bar stools everywhere at midnight.

Yes, it's dead. Killed by suicide.

[nasa123]

Same same in pattaya:

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=azfno_1544994846

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by nasa123
New link.

[anon537687643]

Taking a trip along east coast for Xmas new year, nice beaches and no need to pay for flights and get ripped off in former tourist hotspots


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[scorecard]

14 minutes ago, Zack61 said:

I get price shock convulsions every time I think of Phuket. 

In the north here things cost a pittance in comparison. 

My brother and his wife used to come over religiously for 2 weeks a year but have now opted for better value in Bali. Phuket’s loss as they were good spenders. I guess you can only milk a cow for so long. 

 

My old company (giant successful multinational) in Australia used to bring 2 employee & family / agents & family groups to Phuket twice a year, each group about 1,000 people. Total 4,000 people.

 

They got so sick of lack of professionalism, lack of service, numerous mistakes in room bookings and no attempt to fix the problems, lack of providing the paid extras for these groups they gave up and now go to Singapore (after they did a big survey of 'where would you like to go for your performance reward trip') mentioning some 20 destinations.

 

Singapore as the performance reward spot has proved to be very successful. And since it's such a big overall group the Singapore Tourism Board (I think that's the correct name) provide a team (no charge) to plan, book, arrange the whole thing with tourism board folks accompanying smaller groups on side trips and more and continuous overall daily checking that there's no bumps. 

 

 

[727Sky]

5 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Phuket is not alone in having very few tourists. Pattaya looks like the depths of low season compared with a few years back. It will be tough for TAT to spin some lies to pretend this is not the case, when the evidence, or lack of it, is clearly visible to all. Thailand has problems with its tourist industry, and it is time for the denial to stop.

I had a Thai (rather high up in the military structure) friend of mine who I play golf with ask me why do us round eyes come to Thailand. I told him in the old days the US military came for the cheap living and the girls. He nodded as if he understood.. I then went on to tell him most of the Farangs I have talked to seem to think nothing has changed except things have gotten more expensive..

 

He could not believe guys still come to Thailand just to find a wife or a short term girlfriend. 

 

We went on to discuss a few other things... One was the closing of the Bars come midnight and the cops learning how to capture people who have been drinking or at the Bar come official closing time. I know two guys this happened to who played tournament pool in a couple of bars. How the perception of corruption in many facets of Thai society turns many wood be tourist off or makes them wary to come again...

 

How girls dancing in shorts and a wet blouses can be called provocative and fined.

 

He knew I did not drink or frequent the bars and was but relaying what I have heard from the guys complaining... After all this he just asked if I really did think the male tourist come just for the girls ?? I looked him in they eyes and said, "that is what they tell me; cut out the girls and bars and watch the single males disappear"...... I could start handing out cards as a fortune teller for all this happened a little over a year ago..

 

As far as Chinese tourist the Chinese Communist party uses tourism as a weapon... piss them off and no tourist for you.. If they want something and you agree even if it is to the detriment of your country watch them come flooding back.

And yes me and the general are still friends and play golf sometimes. I do think he thinks I was wrong.. Maybe so.. after all he is a general and I am just some old dude who takes his money when we play..5555

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by 727Sky

[LomSak27]

1 hour ago, Oziex1 said:

5 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Phuket is not alone in having very few tourists. Pattaya looks like the depths of low season compared with a few years back. It will be tough for TAT to spin some lies to pretend this is not the case, when the evidence, or lack of it, is clearly visible to all. Thailand has problems with its tourist industry, and it is time for the denial to stop.

Remember the guy who recently said tourism was down by 20% he was replaced by the guy who said it was up by 20%.

You can add Chiang Mai to that list. Yes there are a good smattering of westerners here now but, the bottom has already dropped out of the big hotel boom and the sell off is a fact. Just no buyers. A race to the bottom?

[nasa123]

Look at Hilton Arcadia Karon normally the last 10 year its packet whit 1700 people this now 600 people.

Edited December 17, 2018 by nasa123

[LomSak27]

Just now, 727Sky said:

Thailand. I told him in the old days the US military came for the cheap living and the girls. He nodded as if he understood..

Might of had something to do with a war ... like in Vietnam ... just saying  ????

[phuketrichard]

54 minutes ago, milwaukeeboy said:

I noted to myself back in '91 when it Phuket, "This place is too damn expensive and the locals all treat me like a rube. Best to not patronize such a place."

And I have never been back. It also didn't help that at that time I went into a huge disco called, "Titanic" where I made the observation that over half the females were born as males.

BS: i managed the  titanic back than and it was full of girls and very very few ladyboys as we discouraged them from entering. It was THE place to go from 1am -6 am.
been living in Phuket ( except for a year back in the states and 1 in Cambodia ) since 1985 and still love it here

 

as to being a rube..if the shoe fits.....

Edited December 17, 2018 by phuketrichard

[andre47]

I never understood why people were traveling to Phuket.

 

Its overpriced and not worth your money at all.

 

There many better places in Thailand. (and in other countries as well)