3 Provinces To Combine Strengths

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ANDAMAN TRIANGLE: 3 provinces to combine strengths

Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket push spas, hospitals, beaches

Savvy tourists are not only enjoying sun-filled days lazing on Phuket’s beaches, many are also gravitating to this slice of what has been dubbed the “Andaman Triangle” for medical care and health spas.

Swiss tourist Andrea Kotas Tammathin, who holidays annually in Phuket, last year decided to undergo plastic surgery at Phuket’s Bangkok Hospital.

“I paid Bt100,000 for a breast enlargement compared with Bt450,000 for the same procedure in Switzerland,” she said.

“It’s a lower price, but I got the same quality [of service]. And at the same time I also had a holiday in a prime tourist location,” said Andrea, a destination manager for Tourasia and Tischler Reisen Service.

After the government introduced the CEO style of remotely governing its provinces last year, governors across the country put their heads down to tailor unique methods to market their provinces. And in some cases they decided upon cluster development.

In the case of Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga, southern provinces on the Andaman Sea, the cluster is to be known as the “Andaman Triangle”.

And – logically enough, considering the provinces’ natural beauty – the cluster’s main thrust will be tourism.

Piyanoot Hongsyok, assistant managing director of the Anuphas Group and Bangkok Phuket Hospital’s director, said Phuket could not develop to its full potential alone. He believes the province must cooperate with its neighbours to develop new tourist attractions and share facilities to serve tourists.

Phuket has good infrastructure and quality medical services for tourists, while Krabi is a drawcard for adventure-loving tourists in search of diving and climbing pursuits.

Phang Nga has long beaches and is surrounded by beautiful isles such as Similan and Surin, which have prime diving spots on beds of coral, said Phang Nga’s governor Samacha Potavorn.

With their provinces’ different yet complementary attractions, the Andaman Triangle governors decided to market their bloc as Thailand’s ultimate health and spa destination.

Phuket will provide international medical services, Phang Nga will provide traditional Thai medical services and Krabi will become the area’s adventure tourism hub.

Phang Nga’s governor added that Phang Nga had good spa services and traditional massages for those tourists bent on relaxing.

Phang Na will also become the Andaman Triangle’s provider of food, feeding hungry mouths in neighbouring provinces with its seafood.

The province is also looking to sell itself as an eco-tourist destination.

Surin, Similan, Pinkan and Lak islands will be kept in as natural a state as possible, while Koh Trapoo has its own attraction, having been used to film scenes from “Tomorrow Never Dies”, a recent James Bond movie.

The province also intends to begin marketing floating weddings in April – with the nuptials performed in a sea canoe and a honeymoon on Koh Lak.

Seven couples have already signed up to tie the knot this year, said Samacha.

“We will keep the province natural and develop infrastructure, particularly our transportation system. We expect to host 11.8 million tourists in 2007.”

Krabi, meanwhile, will become the Andaman Triangle’s sports hub, said Suthas Laosakul, managing director of the province’s Tup Kaek Beach Resort.

He said Krabi offered different attractions to those of Phuket and Phang Nga. Tourists who visited Krabi often shied away from Phuket’s nightlife, in search of more natural surroundings.

One Austrian tourist who recently spent a holiday in Krabi and loved it said he had been drawn to the province by its adventure tours.

The cluster system of marketing seems to be working for the three provinces – government projections forecast the provinces will host 11 million tourists in coming years, an increase from 7.7 million last year.

The estimated income from tourism is expected to be at least Bt145 billion in 2007, or an increase from Bt95 billion in 2002.

To achieve that figure, the provinces will have to work out how to keep tourists for a few days longer, extending the length of their visits from four days on average to six.

“We believe that under the CEO governor system, there will be close cooperation between the Andaman Triangle provinces to market the region as a health and spa destination on the shores of the Andaman Sea in line with the master plan that’s been developed for the run up to 2007,” Samacha said.

--The Nation 2004-01-27