Tourist want sunbeds and umbrellas its just that simple....They will vote with their feet.

Good. They can b*gger off and leave everything to us ex-pat residents.

I just driven from Kata to Patong and back. I can tell you the volume of traffic is high, very high. Too many novice m/bike drivers and too many hire car drivers. All driving slowly looking at the views - nightmare.

I went from Rawai via Chalong Circle to Patong (Hasip Pee Road) on Tuesday at 11:00 am and I didn't have a single hold up. The pick-up in front of mine was going pretty fast all the way and we didn't meet a single slow vehicle or truck. It was such a clear road that I even mentioned it to my mates when I got to Patong.

Compare that to last week when it was a crawl all the way. And when I got to Hasip Pee Road - the southern end - I saw the truck in front of me start to go up Hasip Pee Road so I waited at the bottom. Sure enough, he got almost to the top when his load of metal strips slid off the back of his truck, slid down the road and almost impaled the bike that has passed me.

I wish I'd had my camera to hand.

Tourist want sunbeds and umbrellas its just that simple....They will vote with their feet.

Good. They can b*gger off and leave everything to us ex-pat residents.

Am I right in assuming you settled in Phuket before it became a tourist destination? If not, it would be a bit strange to settle in a touristy place and then wish the tourists would leave, before you came you already knew they were there in big numbers.

Tourist want sunbeds and umbrellas its just that simple....They will vote with their feet.

Good. They can b*gger off and leave everything to us ex-pat residents.

Am I right in assuming you settled in Phuket before it became a tourist destination? If not, it would be a bit strange to settle in a touristy place and then wish the tourists would leave, before you came you already knew they were there in big numbers.

Please don't spoil my rant by asking embarrassing questions.

I'm hearing from a few hotel people that they are really feeling the pinch now.

Service charge was a major part of their salary but now it's way way down.

The hotel f&b isn't the cash cow it once was and getting 60% less than they were in 2010. Declining each year.

Chinese and Russians dont do room service apparently.

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I'm hearing from a few hotel people that they are really feeling the pinch now.

Service charge was a major part of their salary but now it's way way down.

The hotel f&b isn't the cash cow it once was and getting 60% less than they were in 2010. Declining each year.

Chinese and Russians dont do room service apparently.

Sent from my LG-D858

With the Russian Ruble dropping sharply in recent time, less Russians will be booking their package holidays to Phuket in the near future, if they haven't given up already.

In general, they are not big spenders, so their cash may not be missed, but a drop in the Russian tourists may have an effect on employment here, further impacting on the Phuket economy.

Edited November 17, 201411 yr by NamKangMan

Tourist numbers are the same but its just that they sit on tour buses and get taken to places that make the tour operators money.

The free thinking independent travellers from Europe are not what they used to be.

Now a select few reap all the profits.

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Group tours and hotels completely rented out to Russians was very prominent on my 2013 visits to Thailand. I liked Karon beach a lot because of the big Buddha in view on the hill that I could see while swimming and of course because I could swim. The water was very much on the clean side. Buses of Russians all in hotel packages. In Pattaya it was even more Russians grouped together. Up off of Soi Diana across from Soi Bukhao there is a big fairly new hotel on the right. I went over to check on the pool usage and also asked about a room because the little apartment I was renting had no pool. the desk clerk said sorry, no rooms. I was staying across the street. The hotel was deserted. More than 1/2 of the rooms never had a light on. But they weren't renting out rooms. Interesting business model.

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Chinese and Russians dont do room service apparently.

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Hotels lose, 7/11's gain.