Phuket Gov pleads for time to settle beach question

[Alwyn]

There is a law, follow it to the letter, no exceptions.

Exceptions bring on corruption.

Don't like the law, there is a legal means to change it.

Where is the problem?

That's correct. Same with governments, right? Don't like the government, there are legal means to change it, it's called an election. Where is the problem?

[mike324]

"British Consul, who came down from Bangkok, and he said that in the past the beaches in Phuket were free."

Apparently this British consul never went to the beach!

Its funny how people say its the Thais littering the beach when the majority of the beach goers are tourists! If tourist have some decency to throw their own trash away, than it would help with the problem. Ultimately its down to the stand mafia to clean it up, as its they that rented it out, but still ....

When Thais are trying to clean up the beach, we get tourist complaining they want the umbrella mafias back...

[Alwyn]

You be dum dum sit beach no umbrella hot season,

You be skin cancer too.

[The Deerhunter]

44 not working??

Thankfully not being implemented of less than very serious matters. Be careful what you wish for. Do you really want section 44 to control beach chairs. It is taking a lot of time for public servants and Thai beach operators to get used to having public place rules, using them properly and fairly & not just as a way to earn corruption money. Even formulating fair rules and by-laws on sharing are just foreign concepts to a lot of Thais including Public servants.

[NoBrainer]

How about bring back a significant amount of beach chairs, but have them offered and maintained by the government, and provided for free.

It would be just another service for tourists, provided & paid for by the government. No private parties allowed, and the government employees providing the service can also keep the beach clean, and keep other touts / vendors away from the tourists.

I am sure just a tiny percent of the Tourists Authority of Thailand's (mostly wasted) budget could easily cover the costs.

Tourists would be thrilled with free beach chairs, and TAT could use it as a great advertising campaign.

Win Win for everyone.

[quandow]

Why is Thailand the ONLY country in the world with this problem? Could THAT be what they mean by "Thainess?"

[elgordo38]

Quote "I told him that is because the law in Thailand prohibits littering or drinking alcohol in public." .. really ? So all the bars that do business must also be illegal, since tourists drink openly in tourist spots across Thailand, and yet the law is not enforced. Seems very convenient for the law to be applied in some situations, and not others !

You left out the littering part. If it is illegal lets start enforcing it.

[GoNavy]

The town where i grew up in Sweden is a tourist town (in the summer) with lots of beaches. There is a law in Sweden that gives everyone right to go anywhere in nature, even if it is private property. The beaches are always full in summer and in the evening the beaches are clean and pristine after everyone has gone, no littering not because someone enforces no littering laws but because it's just the natural thing to do, keep clean around yourself and the environment.

I often visit a military beach here in Thailand, it is very well managed with natural shade by trees. White clean sand and clear water you can see the bottom even at 2 -3 meters depth. There are chairs for rental (30 baht, you get 10 baht back when returning the chair), mats for rental, you can bring your own umbrella if you want, there are several restaurants and food stalls near the beach, you can buy beer and drink on the beach. They have sea canoes for rental, there are no jet-skies, no boats. A very pleasant beach. Managed by the military. How difficult can it be to manage other beaches for example in Phuket in the same way???? It is not rocket science after all....

Plant some palm trees for shade, set up some food stalls by the beach where people can go and choose by themselves what and when to eat, set up a beach chair and rental stall, fence the whole beach with only one entrance and voila no beach vendors harassing the visitors....

Have a clean up crew that cleans the beach every evening. they can probably even charge a small entrance fee for keeping the beach clean.

​Absolutely a good idea. I am baffled as to why this whole business came to pass. I have been to Phukett a few years back and did not see a problem. My usual hangout when I go is Dongtan Beach in Jomtien. I do not see a problem with the umbrellas and chairs. There are beach volleyball areas further down and open areas. Strollers walk along the waterline. Sometimes the chairs are a bit close but that is an easy fix. The areas were rented out to Thai's who made a living. They made arrangements with restaurants across the road to provide lunches and the venders have drinks. I am there at sunset and each section gather the umbrellas and chairs/lounge chairs, stack them and rake the sand. I don't see liter around.

Elderly and out of shape folks don't want to lay flat on the sand, mat or not. Many are white and want to spend time enjoying the sand/beach/ambiance without fear of burning. Even the young want to relax off the sand. There are laws, obey them crowd are those who stirred the pot on this issue and have caused alot of stink and unhappiness. Whatever corruption that was going on I seriously doubt was due to chairs and umbrellas. The Thai's can make contract for families etc. to have a certain area and make a living. Anyone can sit there. IMO there is not a problem made where there was very little before. Want a natural place to sit on the beach.......go to the jungle. You can probably run naked.

[papa al]

How come the two signs say the same thing and the same handwriting?

Set up by vendors?

Probably made by the same person or identical twins.?

Indeterminate; no data.

[asdecas]

"Seven" Smulders? What happened to the other six Smulders?

[Larry001]

What planet does this guy come from? He stated 'Thailand prohibits littering or drinking alcohol in public.' !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[monkeycountry]

Whatever they do, I hope it does not become as it was before the army took over. That was truly a disaster with sunbeds and umbrellas everywhere.

Notice the boards in the picture are not made by the tourists, but by Thais simply asking the tourists to hold them for the photo. Maybe they got a free ice cream for their help? (The handwriting is the same one both boards).

[Larry001]

The town where i grew up in Sweden is a tourist town (in the summer) with lots of beaches. There is a law in Sweden that gives everyone right to go anywhere in nature, even if it is private property. The beaches are always full in summer and in the evening the beaches are clean and pristine after everyone has gone, no littering not because someone enforces no littering laws but because it's just the natural thing to do, keep clean around yourself and the environment.

I often visit a military beach here in Thailand, it is very well managed with natural shade by trees. White clean sand and clear water you can see the bottom even at 2 -3 meters depth. There are chairs for rental (30 baht, you get 10 baht back when returning the chair), mats for rental, you can bring your own umbrella if you want, there are several restaurants and food stalls near the beach, you can buy beer and drink on the beach. They have sea canoes for rental, there are no jet-skies, no boats. A very pleasant beach. Managed by the military. How difficult can it be to manage other beaches for example in Phuket in the same way???? It is not rocket science after all....

Plant some palm trees for shade, set up some food stalls by the beach where people can go and choose by themselves what and when to eat, set up a beach chair and rental stall, fence the whole beach with only one entrance and voila no beach vendors harassing the visitors....

Have a clean up crew that cleans the beach every evening. they can probably even charge a small entrance fee for keeping the beach clean.

​Absolutely a good idea. I am baffled as to why this whole business came to pass. I have been to Phukett a few years back and did not see a problem. My usual hangout when I go is Dongtan Beach in Jomtien. I do not see a problem with the umbrellas and chairs. There are beach volleyball areas further down and open areas. Strollers walk along the waterline. Sometimes the chairs are a bit close but that is an easy fix. The areas were rented out to Thai's who made a living. They made arrangements with restaurants across the road to provide lunches and the venders have drinks. I am there at sunset and each section gather the umbrellas and chairs/lounge chairs, stack them and rake the sand. I don't see liter around.

Elderly and out of shape folks don't want to lay flat on the sand, mat or not. Many are white and want to spend time enjoying the sand/beach/ambiance without fear of burning. Even the young want to relax off the sand. There are laws, obey them crowd are those who stirred the pot on this issue and have caused alot of stink and unhappiness. Whatever corruption that was going on I seriously doubt was due to chairs and umbrellas. The Thai's can make contract for families etc. to have a certain area and make a living. Anyone can sit there. IMO there is not a problem made where there was very little before. Want a natural place to sit on the beach.......go to the jungle. You can probably run naked.

Interesting that on Wednesdays (day designated as free beach day), the beach is sparsely attended, car parks are empty and small businesses lose out dearly. Pattaya People did a survey that revealed 90% of beach goers want chairs, umbrellas and other services.

[Larry001]

Hey , you have to laugh, just cut short our trip in Phuket (4 people 50+) staying one week stayed 2days, as we all have big problems in trying to sit on the sand without help and quite honestly we do not want to anyway, but the thing that made us laugh was that the "10%" area , are charging the same for just 2 "mats and umbrella" 200bht ! the same that we had paid before, for a Bed, Mat, brella, 200bht

That's the price you pay for going to Phuket; the most expensive place in Thailand. Plenty of far more pleasant places.

[steelepulse]

The town where i grew up in Sweden is a tourist town (in the summer) with lots of beaches. There is a law in Sweden that gives everyone right to go anywhere in nature, even if it is private property. The beaches are always full in summer and in the evening the beaches are clean and pristine after everyone has gone, no littering not because someone enforces no littering laws but because it's just the natural thing to do, keep clean around yourself and the environment.

I often visit a military beach here in Thailand, it is very well managed with natural shade by trees. White clean sand and clear water you can see the bottom even at 2 -3 meters depth. There are chairs for rental (30 baht, you get 10 baht back when returning the chair), mats for rental, you can bring your own umbrella if you want, there are several restaurants and food stalls near the beach, you can buy beer and drink on the beach. They have sea canoes for rental, there are no jet-skies, no boats. A very pleasant beach. Managed by the military. How difficult can it be to manage other beaches for example in Phuket in the same way???? It is not rocket science after all....

Plant some palm trees for shade, set up some food stalls by the beach where people can go and choose by themselves what and when to eat, set up a beach chair and rental stall, fence the whole beach with only one entrance and voila no beach vendors harassing the visitors....

Have a clean up crew that cleans the beach every evening. they can probably even charge a small entrance fee for keeping the beach clean.

Whatever corruption that was going on I seriously doubt was due to chairs and umbrellas.

Negative. Corruption is due to umbrellas and chairs.

"

“For example, one five-year contract for a 99-meter stretch of the beach cost B6.25 million. Another, for 80 meters of beach for three years cost B4.5 million. A third one, for a year, cost B1.69 million.”

All of these contracts, he said, related to the charges well-known hotels in the area had to pay to have rows of sunbeds on the beach."

http://www.samuitimes.com/police-reveal-phukets-public-beaches-rented-billions/

To sum up, the local mayor sold off parcels of land to locals, who then sold off the beach in front of the hotels on " their land" so the hotels could provide sunbeds which of course the hotel had to take care of while the locals sat back and raked in huge amounts of cash.

All of the beaches here ( the Kings land) are used for private enterprise, and these scumbags should be arrested and charged with LM. If they want to do business, they should rent land and a shop just like any other business, not use public land for private windfalls.

Edit, samui times got their article from http://www.thephuketnews.com/police-reveal-how-phukets-public-beaches-were-rented-out-for-billions-48879.php

Edited April 24, 2015 by steelepulse

[Jim walker]

Did he think it is a public beach then give it back to the public to decide save him having a Mavis moment is it yes or is it no

[luckyman]

Funny isn't it ? They have so many beaches here and not one is managed properly.

I doubt that there is another country in the world that receives so many tourists and has such a poor record re clean beaches.

in Italy, Spain and even in Holland, beach entrepreneurs clean and rake their own section of rented beach early every morning, each and every day throughout the whole season the vendors take good care as they believe it matters to their guests, not in Thailand!

[luckyman]

The town where i grew up in Sweden is a tourist town (in the summer) with lots of beaches. There is a law in Sweden that gives everyone right to go anywhere in nature, even if it is private property. The beaches are always full in summer and in the evening the beaches are clean and pristine after everyone has gone, no littering not because someone enforces no littering laws but because it's just the natural thing to do, keep clean around yourself and the environment.

I often visit a military beach here in Thailand, it is very well managed with natural shade by trees. White clean sand and clear water you can see the bottom even at 2 -3 meters depth. There are chairs for rental (30 baht, you get 10 baht back when returning the chair), mats for rental, you can bring your own umbrella if you want, there are several restaurants and food stalls near the beach, you can buy beer and drink on the beach. They have sea canoes for rental, there are no jet-skies, no boats. A very pleasant beach. Managed by the military. How difficult can it be to manage other beaches for example in Phuket in the same way???? It is not rocket science after all....

Plant some palm trees for shade, set up some food stalls by the beach where people can go and choose by themselves what and when to eat, set up a beach chair and rental stall, fence the whole beach with only one entrance and voila no beach vendors harassing the visitors....

Have a clean up crew that cleans the beach every evening. they can probably even charge a small entrance fee for keeping the beach clean.

Whatever corruption that was going on I seriously doubt was due to chairs and umbrellas.

Negative. Corruption is due to umbrellas and chairs.

"

“For example, one five-year contract for a 99-meter stretch of the beach cost B6.25 million. Another, for 80 meters of beach for three years cost B4.5 million. A third one, for a year, cost B1.69 million.”

All of these contracts, he said, related to the charges well-known hotels in the area had to pay to have rows of sunbeds on the beach."

http://www.samuitimes.com/police-reveal-phukets-public-beaches-rented-billions/

To sum up, the local mayor sold off parcels of land to locals, who then sold off the beach in front of the hotels on " their land" so the hotels could provide sunbeds which of course the hotel had to take care of while the locals sat back and raked in huge amounts of cash.

All of the beaches here ( the Kings land) are used for private enterprise, and these scumbags should be arrested and charged with LM. If they want to do business, they should rent land and a shop just like any other business, not use public land for private windfalls.

Edit, samui times got their article from http://www.thephuketnews.com/police-reveal-how-phukets-public-beaches-were-rented-out-for-billions-48879.php

Correct, it is the umbrella and chair system.

Here in Hua Hin the local authorities issues permits a few decades ago, valid for life, at a ridiculously low rental price of 400 baht per year (!!!).

Of course, the permit owner sub-leased his plot to a second party, who sub-leased it to a third and on and on and on.

When the Army came to check, just as on Phuket, none of the vendors currently there could show that permit or even the original rental agreement, obviously.

Thus, they wanted to stop this practice, but were legally bound to uphold the contract with the original holders.

So now we have to wait till all these original contract holders have died before they can issue new ones.

Ten years ago there were 28 vendors with a contract like this, today only 10 are left so perhaps in another 5-10 years the new system will be introduced.

[Tony125]

"British Consul, who came down from Bangkok, and he said that in the past the beaches in Phuket were free."

Apparently this British consul never went to the beach!

Its funny how people say its the Thais littering the beach when the majority of the beach goers are tourists! If tourist have some decency to throw their own trash away, than it would help with the problem. Ultimately its down to the stand mafia to clean it up, as its they that rented it out, but still ....

When Thais are trying to clean up the beach, we get tourist complaining they want the umbrella mafias back...

There needs to be chairs umbrellas to rent rather than sitting on blanket on the sand getting sunburned in 20 mins.They should alow deck chairs and umbrellas at rear of beach and then let those who are dumb or cheap charlies to sit in the front of beach where they can fry and get skin cancer. One main problem is no trash barrels around to put trash in. Been to a lot of beaches and there are few and thats the municipality's fault not the vendors. The city should have enough trash barrels and could even get persons jailed for minor offences out early in morning to spruce up the beaches.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Tony125

[geisha]

Littering and drinking alcohol in public is against Thai law! So is prostitution ! The people who litter the beaches are 95 % Thai !

[catweazle]

Would all not be a problem if the military regime would truly care about Thailand's nature and the beaches... Reality is that the original crackdown and beach cleanup was done because they weren't offered a share of the "corruption grease" generated here. As an answer, they simply demolished everything.

How can these people expect tourists to visit their beach resorts along the coasts if not even the very basic needs of the common tourist such as beach lounger and shade are provided? It's like trying to run a 5 star hotel without beds, asking guests to sleep on the floor. Pathetic and so utterly stupid that I wanna throw up whenever the topic comes up...

Almost forgot - think Thai people expect a public figure by now to be put under house arrest for life because he/she demands democracy for Thailand so we all have an idol to put on walls and car stickers to at least give us hope that something will change to the better and Thailand be free again...

[Phuketboy]

As for the beaches being dirty with litter….. I have said it once, (even sent an email to the governor) and I will say it again. If you want clean beaches, supply rubbish bins so that people can dispose of their waste properly. There are no rubbish bins anywhere, so people simply leave it there. It's not rocket science, although it may be above some people's (governor's) capacity to see this.

[ICECOOL]

“If you allow more than the 10 per cent there will be no room for people who want to just sit on the beach."

“I also listened to Phuket people [who told me] if you let [sunbeds] come back, [the whole beach] will be occupied again."

2 ridiculous statements among many.

Here is a radical idea. Mark out the areas chairs must stay inside (fine them if they encroach) and let the tourists who don't want chairs have sunbeds and mats on the rest. Put in garbage bins evenly spaced along the beach for people to put rubbish in. Charge the business people who want to rent a space for chairs a fee and make them responsible for keeping their area litter free and use the fee to clean the rest of the beach daily.

[Benmart]

Just replace the mats with beds.!!

Job done!

It;s not my beach.

I am not in charge.

If I can't follow the rules made by those that are in charge, I can move on.

I'm not qualified to issue a job done exclamation.

[LivinginKata]

If you allow more than the 10 per cent there will be no room for people who want to just sit on the beach."

I also listened to Phuket people [who told me] if you let [sunbeds] come back, [the whole beach] will be occupied again."

2 ridiculous statements among many.

Here is a radical idea. Mark out the areas chairs must stay inside (fine them if they encroach) and let the tourists who don't want chairs have sunbeds and mats on the rest. Put in garbage bins evenly spaced along the beach for people to put rubbish in. Charge the business people who want to rent a space for chairs a fee and make them responsible for keeping their area litter free and use the fee to clean the rest of the beach daily.

Clearly you have no idea how the 'system' works here in Thailand. There is no interest for authorities or police to regulate that sort of system to benefit the public coffers. they are all too busy lining their own pockets. That is the very sad truth.

[Jimi007]

Would all not be a problem if the military regime would truly care about Thailand's nature and the beaches... Reality is that the original crackdown and beach cleanup was done because they weren't offered a share of the "corruption grease" generated here. As an answer, they simply demolished everything.

How can these people expect tourists to visit their beach resorts along the coasts if not even the very basic needs of the common tourist such as beach lounger and shade are provided? It's like trying to run a 5 star hotel without beds, asking guests to sleep on the floor. Pathetic and so utterly stupid that I wanna throw up whenever the topic comes up...

Almost forgot - think Thai people expect a public figure by now to be put under house arrest for life because he/she demands democracy for Thailand so we all have an idol to put on walls and car stickers to at least give us hope that something will change to the better and Thailand be free again...

LOL! I guess you missed the part about the beaches being public? Not for locals profit… I've had a house in Phuket for over 10 years and the beach takeover by the local vendors was totally out of hand! They acted like they owned the beach!

I also have two houses at the beach in California in towns that have been beach resorts since the late 1800s. I have lived at the beach all my life. I never found a need for a beach lounger or umbrella. I guess that's the best part of living at the beach, it only takes a few minutes to get back home. No need to spend the entire day there. We have plenty of tourists at the beaches in California, many more than Phuket or all of Thailand. There are no beach loungers, there never have been. People do bring there own chairs and umbrellas, they always have. No vendors allowed, never have. We use to be able to drink on the beach, but idiots ruined that many years for everyone. Now no smoking on the beaches as idiots throw their cigarette butts everywhere in the sand. Our beaches are clean, we have public beach cleanup days and trash bins on the beaches. We also have full time professional lifeguards. Thailand needs to take a lesson!

Edited April 24, 2015 by Jimi007

[luckyman]

Thai army and police officers do not understand what is meant by the word 'public' like we understand it to be

[Sharp]

Just replace the mats with beds.!!

Job done!

It;s not my beach.
I am not in charge.
If I can't follow the rules made by those that are in charge, I can move on.
I'm not qualified to issue a job done exclamation.

My point is if they allow the illegal business of mats and umbrellas being rented out then what's the difference in beds in the 10% zone !!... It was supposed to be about illegal business practices on the beach so I'm surprised how they differentiate between mats, umbrellas or beds .. I don't have to be qualified to make an observation do I??