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National Geographic Traveler: About Phuket


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Posted

Phuket, Thailand

Score: 46*

"Chaotic development. The Thai people do not realize what a beautiful island we have. They continue to over-exploit all the island's resources. Old buildings from the pioneer settlement era still can be found downtown. However, many are not taken care of. No building code harmonizing construction with the natural settings, especially on Pathong beach (ugly high-rise building). We missed the window of opportunity after the 2004 tsunami to clean out illegal coastal development. Very sad."

"Phuket's original charm as an astonishingly beautiful, unspoiled, and culturally rich destination has been completely lost."

"Given the tsunami, it's wonderful to see what has been achieved to rebuild people's lives in two and a half years. What I experienced is a credit to small and micro businesses that kept faith in the tourism future of the island. Like all destinations, there are various ecological, social, and economic challenges."

"A planning disaster! Reputation for bars and illicit activities overwhelm the natural charm of the Thai people. Prostitution and urban sprawl rampant."

"Too much tourism development without a plan. Pathong is a classical sex-tourism destination, probably worse than Bangkok. Some nice resorts and beaches. The water 'looks' fine, but is polluted."

Source: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler...lands_asia.html

"Panelists exchanged comments, which were kept anonymous to maintain survey neutrality during the rating process. These lightly edited excerpts offer a glimpse of panelists' varied points of view and the reasoning behind each score. They are not the views of the National Geographic Society."

* Guide to the Scores:

0-25: Catastrophic: all criteria very negative, outlook grim.

26-49: In serious trouble.

50-65: In moderate trouble: all criteria medium-negative or a mix of negatives and positives.

66-85: Minor difficulties.

86-95: Authentic, unspoiled, and likely to remain so.

96-100: Enhanced.

LaoPo

Posted

Thanks for posting this LaoPo. Talk about losing face! Maybe this will shock the government into actually doing something constructive instead of the usual destructive policies.

Now they need to do this same survey of Phi Phi and Krabi. Both formerly stunning places have been raped by greed and apathy... in my opinion.

Posted

This topic came up in November 2007:

Special Vox Pop National Geographic survey Phuket island

To see or download mini-video, go to http://news.prd.go.th/news_detail.php?newsid=215226

Vox Pop for Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) 8.30am + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, both broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket & Phuket Cable TV Channel 1 at 7, 10.30 or 11pm, Wednesday 14 November 2007 & news.prd.go.th

To find out some responses to a National Geographic survey that rated Phuket island as in "serious trouble" 46/100, we asked some tourists and the Patong Deputy Mayor how they rated Phuket's environment out of 100, and what they thought yesterday, which was also the first good weather day of the high season. Let's hear what they said:

.........

Special news - National Geographic survey on Phuket island

To see or download mini-video, go to http://news.prd.go.th/news_detail.php?newsid=215225

Special news for Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) 8.30am + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, both broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket & Phuket Cable TV Channel 1 at 7, 10.30 or 11pm, Wednesday 14 November 2007 news.prd.go.th

National Geographic Traveller experts rate Phuket Island's environment at a low score.

The well known National Geographic Traveler website & magazine's November edition highlights 522 experts votes on 111 islands around the world. To see how the integrity of these islands around the world is holding up, Traveler and National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations conducted this fourth annual Destination Scorecard survey, aided by George Washington University. The scores that followed reflected the experts' opinions, on a scale of 100 or Enhanced to 0 (zero) or Catastrophic. Faroe Islands in Denmark was top with a score of 87. Phuket scored only 46. It was 106th or 6th from bottom. Some quoted phrases from their remarks on Phuket suggest their thinking behind the scores: quote "Chaotic development. The Thai people do not realize what a beautiful island we have. They continue to over-exploit all the island's resources. We missed the window of opportunity after the 2004 tsunami to clean out illegal coastal development." unquote

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Posted
Did they only visit Patong?

I assume not but the fact remains that Phuket has been continuously raped in a most dramatic way.

I haven't been back to Phuket for more than 15 years and doubt if I will ever come back. In the early days I explored the island's interior and drove almost every dirt track.

Phuket was unspoiled and beautiful with many empty bays and beaches and even Hat Patong was unspoiled.

No more since greed took over and the lack of planning destroyed a once beautiful island.

Greed, corruption and non-planning has done it's work.

Phuket is a fine example: 'How to destroy Paradise'

LaoPo

Posted
Did they only visit Patong?

I'm guessing you're not serious.

If you are serious, can you think of any place in Phuket that doesn't have trash, doesn't have any sort of a negative impact brought on by human activities, etc, etc? Yes, it's still a pretty place, but not if you look deep enough, not at least, in my most humble opinion.

I've lived here for over 15 years and other than finally having higher speed internet connections I can't think of anything that has actually improved... but then again, I'm a sour arse at times. :o

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