Phuket hotels fighting for their lives as domestic tourism fails to support the island

[adammike]

4 hours ago, SupermarineS6B said:

I've just done that, i left Thailand in July and i don't think i'll be back until there's a drastic change of management, there's no point, the more you dance, the faster they'll play the tune........  Just give it time, when they've got rid of Cha Chas mob the borders will be flung open for every man and his dog.......... As it used to be.......... 

More dogs will do it for me let alone Covid 19.

[daejung]

13 hours ago, joecoolfrog said:

I paid 800 baht at Xmas , airport to karon beach ( about 1 hour ).

Expensive yes but not 2000.

Same price for me : 800

Half price from Suvarnabhumi airport to Silom, same distance

[LivinginKata]

3 hours ago, LALes said:

Just spent 5 days in Phuket.  Nobody is cleaning the beaches.  You'd think it would be easy to hire some of the thousands who are out of work.  No good reason to see plastic bottles, straws and broken flip flops littering the beaches right now.

Flying back to Suwanabhumi, it was an eerie sight to see all the parked Thai Airways planes doing nothing.

 

Kata Beach is cleaned every morning at 07.30 by municipal workers. It's immaculate

[sekmet]

It would not be a bad idea to shut and demolish some of the older guest houses and rebuild to a more modern standard.

[Yahooka]

13 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

in a few months we'll be able to ask them if it was worth it:

 

With only 290 deaths so far. It was absolutely worth it .

Edited September 9, 2020 by Yahooka

[tlandtday]

7 hours ago, LALes said:

Just spent 5 days in Phuket.  Nobody is cleaning the beaches.  You'd think it would be easy to hire some of the thousands who are out of work.  No good reason to see plastic bottles, straws and broken flip flops littering the beaches right now.

Flying back to Suwanabhumi, it was an eerie sight to see all the parked Thai Airways planes doing nothing.

I was just there and as mentioned kata beach was spot on clean.  Not sure about the rest but I can tell you Naiyang beach has most business open and restaurant tables on the sand just a few meters from a filthy unclean beach littered with trash.  Unbelievable these people don't clean their beachfront property.

[Kohkah]

Let's face the truth. The virus will not disappear quickly. The WHO guessed the pandemic will take about 2 years (shorter than the Spanish flu).
The tourist industry in Thailand will crumble if the country does not learn how to live with the virus instead of isolate themself

[simon43]

The tourist industry in Thailand will crumble if the country does not learn how to live with the virus instead of isolate themself

 

Will crumble?  It already has and IMHO, it will never return to anything close to the previous levels.

 

Here's my 'pigs will fly' plan to get Phuket back on its feet:

 

1 - Accept that the tourism sector is all but dead

2 - Declare the island as a 'freeport', with zero VAT on all goods

3 - Establish casinos on the island

4 - Allow foreigners to fully own and control any business that they establish on the island, and to work in any job sector.

5 - Extend the land lease period from 30 years to 999 years, (effectively allowing land ownership without actually allowing land ownership!)

 

That will do for starters ????

[mjakob007]

8 minutes ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Will crumble?  It already has and IMHO, it will never return to anything close to the previous levels.

 

Here's my 'pigs will fly' plan to get Phuket back on its feet:

 

1 - Accept that the tourism sector is all but dead

2 - Declare the island as a 'freeport', with zero VAT on all goods

3 - Establish casinos on the island

4 - Allow foreigners to fully own and control any business that they establish on the island, and to work in any job sector.

5 - Extend the land lease period from 30 years to 999 years, (effectively allowing land ownership without actually allowing land ownership!)

 

That will do for starters ????

Casino certainly would be a game changer.

 

[Truth Will Set You Free]

The hotels have made enough money to keep on their employees. They seen this coming and should have had a plan to deal with it.  All I have seen is greedy greedy greedy and no concern of their employees.
 

This is the time to go in and renovate, paint and train your employees how to keep them up. Set a standard which is not a score eye to customers.  Spend some of that money you have made over the years. It will be you who stands out when they reopen instead of I hoping someone book a cheap place because you to lazy to upgrade. 

[ChipButty]

31 minutes ago, Truth Will Set You Free said:

The hotels have made enough money to keep on their employees. They seen this coming and should have had a plan to deal with it.  All I have seen is greedy greedy greedy and no concern of their employees.
 

This is the time to go in and renovate, paint and train your employees how to keep them up. Set a standard which is not a score eye to customers.  Spend some of that money you have made over the years. It will be you who stands out when they reopen instead of I hoping someone book a cheap place because you to lazy to upgrade. 

They did spend it, they gambled it away and bought new cars

[Sharp]

45 minutes ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Will crumble?  It already has and IMHO, it will never return to anything close to the previous levels.

 

Here's my 'pigs will fly' plan to get Phuket back on its feet:

 

1 - Accept that the tourism sector is all but dead

2 - Declare the island as a 'freeport', with zero VAT on all goods

3 - Establish casinos on the island

4 - Allow foreigners to fully own and control any business that they establish on the island, and to work in any job sector.

5 - Extend the land lease period from 30 years to 999 years, (effectively allowing land ownership without actually allowing land ownership!)

 

That will do for starters ????

Great ideas mate and i for one concur but unfortunately we have been around long enough to know its a pipe dream.

[zzzzz]

45 minutes ago, mjakob007 said:

Casino certainly would be a game changer.

 

wont ever, ever happen,  to much big money of the generals, politicians in casinos in Cambodia, Burma and Laos

Edited September 10, 2020 by zzzzz

[bristolgeoff]

Never being to phuket I know it is expensive and over priced in everything.Pattaya is alittle better and has 2 beach areas if you want a seaside holiday.waiting to get back to sailor bar when all is well

[Percy P]

On 9/9/2020 at 3:26 AM, RichardColeman said:

I can see some new Thai version of Crassus rising from the flames of Phuket

I for one will not be going to Phuket. Only been their once and that was ten years ago. I found everything to expensive . Pepsi a at 20 B a bottle it's not on .With children it can become expensive.

[ChipButty]

I cant help thinking what this place is going to look like in 12 months time with the amount of empty properties now, shop house after shop house empty after 3 months the jungle takes over the land lords are never going to maintain them it's going to end up looking like some getto

[ChipButty]

23 hours ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Will crumble?  It already has and IMHO, it will never return to anything close to the previous levels.

 

Here's my 'pigs will fly' plan to get Phuket back on its feet:

 

1 - Accept that the tourism sector is all but dead

2 - Declare the island as a 'freeport', with zero VAT on all goods

3 - Establish casinos on the island

4 - Allow foreigners to fully own and control any business that they establish on the island, and to work in any job sector.

5 - Extend the land lease period from 30 years to 999 years, (effectively allowing land ownership without actually allowing land ownership!)

 

That will do for starters ????

Dont want much do you?

[Sharp]

19 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I cant help thinking what this place is going to look like in 12 months time with the amount of empty properties now, shop house after shop house empty after 3 months the jungle takes over the land lords are never going to maintain them it's going to end up looking like some getto

Totally agree , certainly not a so called 'top holiday' resort for sure !!!

[ChipButty]

59 minutes ago, Sharp said:

Totally agree , certainly not a so called 'top holiday' resort for sure !!!

I think it might be a good time to get the unemployed working keeping the place clean and tidy and making sure the beaches are kept clean, clear the trash getting washed ashore 

[Old Croc]

On 9/8/2020 at 7:41 AM, vadid said:

I went to Phuket only once, the taxi from the airport took a detour to some place that tried to sell me tours. This was obviously far from unique.  Left a bad taste so I shortened my stay from a week to three days. And have never been back.  Phuket deserves all it gets.

There's a sucker born every minute.

[KarenBravo]

On 9/9/2020 at 8:32 PM, sekmet said:

It would not be a bad idea to shut and demolish some of the older guest houses and rebuild to a more modern standard.

.....and the money comes from...........who?

[Nout]

Phuket is about the worst place I've been to in Thailand.

[Nout]

28 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

There's a sucker born every minute.

Have you been to Phuket? The suckers are the one who return to the place.

[Old Croc]

As usual a thread like this has brought out the sad sacks and their perennial whinges about taxi costs and other rip-offs. Yes, the place was too expensive for many budget tourists! Why have a holiday in a place you can't afford? 

Phuket is (was) one of the world's major tourist destinations (once rated in the top 10 most visited) which means generally it charged the millions who came to visit top dollar. Combine this with Thai greed and lack of forward thinking and it was always heading for a crash at some stage. No one saw the pandemic coming with it's instant full stop to life as we know it.

Forgetting for a minute about the thieves, the corrupt, the cartels' and others who took advantage of the system to get their hands into the trough, think instead of the hundreds of thousands of little people who cleaned, cooked, massaged, etc. to get enough money to support their families all over Thailand, particularly in Isaan.  They suddenly found themselves out of a job and in some cases out on the street. They're the ones hurting the most. The obscenely rich can afford to wait, some are already buying up cheap property and starting new projects in anticipation of the next up surge.

To throw shade on a whole Province of basic Thai people just trying to get ahead in their small way, just because you once found the taxis too expensive, only highlights who the real small people are,

 

[Old Croc]

2 minutes ago, Nout said:

Have you been to Phuket? The suckers are the one who return to the place.

I've lived on Phuket for over a decade. Have you ever been anywhere in the world? You sound very immature and naïve.

[Sundown]

I like how many people is envious of Phuket probably because they cannot afford living here ???? As I see Phuket is living normally, and shopping malls are full, BMW mercedes running all around, sometimes spotted Lamborghini , Aston Martin, Rolls Royce...people eating and spending at Central Festival. Yea hotels are in trouble, but most of them are big companies so who cares! Many workers already changed type of employment or moved elsewhere! Phuket is a great place for those who can afford it, don't be so angry guys! ????

[ChipButty]

15 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

They suddenly found themselves out of a job and in some cases out on the street. They're the ones hurting the most. The obscenely rich can afford to wait, some are already buying up cheap property and starting new projects in anticipation of the next up surge.

To throw shade on a whole Province of basic Thai people just trying to get ahead in their small way, just because you once found the taxis too expensive, only highlights who the real small people are,

 

Already there are homeless people where I live, a plot of land behind me was left abandoned by the builders and the tin shacks a couple of months back a woman moved into one of them she doesn't look like a construction worker but fair play to her she has tried to make it better for herself by putting loads of plants around her

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

43 minutes ago, Nout said:

Phuket is about the worst place I've been to in Thailand.

It was a stunning beautiful place in the early 80s and not overpriced. The locals have really destroyed what could have been a unique place.  

[LivinginKata]

4 hours ago, Sundown said:

I like how many people is envious of Phuket probably because they cannot afford living here ???? As I see Phuket is living normally, and shopping malls are full, BMW mercedes running all around, sometimes spotted Lamborghini , Aston Martin, Rolls Royce...people eating and spending at Central Festival. Yea hotels are in trouble, but most of them are big companies so who cares! Many workers already changed type of employment or moved elsewhere! Phuket is a great place for those who can afford it, don't be so angry guys! ????

 

Lambo yes. Rolls no. Ferrari and Bently yes. Aston ? not seen one yet.

[KarenBravo]

5 hours ago, Nout said:

Phuket is about the worst place I've been to in Thailand.

I see you haven't met the biting flies on the beaches of Ko Samet, then.