Thread: Tourism Turns Sour for Kata Karon: Phuket Faces Possible Downturn

PHUKET: Businesspeople from Phuket's Kata-Karon tourist district say manipulative tour managers are robbing them of customers and driving the beach destination into an economic recession.

Sixteen representatives from resorts and other businesses protested to the Tourism and Sport Director on Phuket today and warned that shut-downs and job losses were now occurring fast south of Patong, on the island's holiday coast.

The manager of a Kata-Karon resort who preferred not to have the business named said that the present occupancy rate was ''not more than 30 percent'' even though the room rates in the region were at rock-bottom prices.

The manager of a massage business said: ''Kata Karon is like a ghost town after 6pm. Once at this timer of the year, businesses flourished until 8pm. Walk up the streets and you will see 'For Rent' or 'For Sale' notices everywhere.

''In high season, the income at my shop would usually be 100,000 baht. In low season, it usually falls to 50,000 baht. Today, I am lucky if we have revenue of 30,000 baht. It's disastrous.

''My two remaining masseuses, great workers, are leaving for Korea because they say the opportunities there are better.''

Most of the people who met today with Santi Pawai, the Tourism and Sport director, attributed the decline of business in Kata Karon to manipulation by Chinese tour package managers.

They say that whatever businesses on the island are the preferred outlets for the Chinese tour package managers will continue to survive, but the margins for all Phuket businesses are being squeezed.

Numbers of tourists arriving through Phuket International Airport continue to rise but at a slower rate than during the five-year boom that ended last year, while property developers and banks continue constructing apartments and homes as if there's been no levelling off.

Khun Santi said he was constantly arresting the operators of illegal businesses but they usually were fined and resumed operations quickly.

He said he hoped the issues of declining quality and quantity of tourists in Kata and Karon could be discussed when the National Reform Council meets on Phuket at Royal Phuket City Hotel on June 8.

Tourism Turns Sour for Kata Karon: Phuket Faces Possible Downturn - Phuket Wan

''In high season, the income at my shop would usually be 100,000 baht. In low season, it usually falls to 50,000 baht. Today, I am lucky if we have revenue of 30,000 baht. It's disastrous.

pass the greedy fleecing bastard a box of tissues to wipe his eyes.

if you cant adjust to market forces then you have no business being in business.

Gee wiz, no surprise here.

It might be a good time to buy in Phuket though.

Apparently, it's happening in Pai as well. Lots of Chinese tourists on pre-paid packages in the larger hotels. Locals are not getting much of the business.

serve 'em right, who cares

Meanwhile in a parallel universe....

Booming hotel market beckons investors from near and far

Booming hotel market beckons investors from near and far | Bangkok Post: news

tourists worldwide are savvy to the thais rather nasty habit of charging according to race, rarely posting prices of goods, padding bills, overcharging, and moving goalposts in order to increase income. they want the money for the least amount of effort.

the chinese prefer all in packages, perhaps because they dont want to spend so much time dealing with those thai shopkeepers and business owners that can make tourist destinations here so unpleasant for visitors.

see tuk tuk mafia, jetskis, seafood restaurant bill padding, police shakedowns, ladyboy attacks, taxi fares, etc.etc.etc.

when they put their house in order and stop stealing from tourists, they will get the business.

I was there in February and it was dead compared to how it used to be. Most of the hotels are ripoffs and do all inclusive packages to keep the mug punters in there when they aren't on the beach.

As for the rest, the Russians and Chinese won't pay bar or restaurant prices, they buy their shit in 7/11 or the shops.

All of the old bars and restaurants I used to use are gone.

Overdeveloped and overexploited.

Originally Posted by zygote1

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Gee wiz, no surprise here.

It might be a good time to buy in Phuket though.

I don't think so. People purchased their condos at inflated prices and are not keen to lose money. according to the local news, many of the new condo projects are not moving units and the developers can't afford to discount their prices.
I'd suggest waiting until reality takes hold and their is a much needed price adjustment. In any case, many people have to buy their water from the tanker units, and the power grid is not reliable. When I was at my old condo a couple months ago, things were pretty grim. They were practically asking people to avoid water use. Lots of people trying to dump units, and oblivious to the fact that there are more sellers than buyers. Patience.

Yes, I almost wrote to wait a bit, maybe a year or two and then come in and buy when prices plunge. This is only the beginning of the downward spiral.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I was there in February and it was dead compared to how it used to be. Most of the hotels are ripoffs and do all inclusive packages to keep the mug punters in there when they aren't on the beach.

As for the rest, the Russians and Chinese won't pay bar or restaurant prices, they buy their shit in 7/11 or the shops.

All of the old bars and restaurants I used to use are gone.

Overdeveloped and overexploited.

Same for Pattaya and Koh Samui IMO.

Phuketwan
May 27, 2015
By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison

Occupancy at Phuket resorts is averaging 40 percent, worse than last year, with officials scrambling to set up a rival online booking agency to help regain revenue.

The resorts are being blamed for slashing their own throats by reducing prices, ignoring industry leaders' requests to maintain reasonable levels.

Officials from the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Branch) met yesterday with Phuket's Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) to try to establish a rival online booking site to prevent the cut-throat competition.

With the 2015 low season looking bleak and long, Phuket chickens labelled ''oversupply'' and ''self-interest'' appear to be coming home to roost.

Kritsada Tansakul, southern president of the THA, told Phuketwan today that price dumping by Phuket resorts had essentially driven resort revenues lower. ''There is also an oversupply,'' he said. ''The only way back up is for the Governor to crack down on the illegal accommodation that is making legitimate competition impossible.''

Khun Kritsada is planning to meet with Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong this week in an emergency session. ''Phuket has about 90,000 rooms taking into consideration all styles of accommodation from five-stars through to gueshouses and apartments,'' Khun Kritsada said. ''But a sizeable number remain illegal.''

Like so many problems that the island continues to endure, the oversupply issue has gone unresolved through good times. The answers remain the same in the bad times: enforcement and cooperative willpower. ''We will tell the governor: 'You said you can't stop them constructing, but you can certainly enforce whether they are legal or not.'''

Record numbers of developers have been encouraged by exploitative investment banks acting on false forecasts that the boom in tourism on Phuket will go on and on. The boosters have been encouraged by five years of continuing growth to believe that it will not stop. But the tipping point has been reached.

Phuket's competitive pricing edge - the element that worked so well for so long - is finally being undermined. Fresher competing destinations do not have to deal with excessive commissions and corruption.

The trend to last-minute booking also means that Phuket resorts are at the mercy of the big online booking agents. ''The battle to the bottom means that Phuket no longer benefits,'' Khun Kritsada said. ''The customers are the ones who are better off these days.''

THA officials are hoping they can corner a greater share of revenue by creating their own booking agency through Sipa. However, in an era when everyone takes advantage of the prices derived through online booking, it may take time to restore customers' faith in Phuket and encourage them to stick with the resorts and the holiday island they know.

The changes that repeat-visitor tourists wanted most - reducing tuk-tuk and taxi fares and cutting extra commissions and rip-offs - have not happened. Instead, the beaches that many relatively wealthy veterans came to enjoy have changed forever, and their favored sunbeds have been banned.

The Europeans have been made to feel unwanted at the same time as a surge in tourists from China has delivered control to tour companies and agents who cream as much as possible for themselves and have resorts begging for scraps.

So much has been left unenforced or open to over-investment, rip-offs and corruption on Phuket that Governor Nisit's desk must be in danger of collapsing under the weight of ''urgent'' files requesting action.

With so few people around to actually contribute to the Phuket economy, it's not only a good time for visitors to cash in but also a good time for the governor to begin listening to the people on whom the island's future depends: Jack and Jill Tourist.

Phuket Resort Prices, Guest Numbers in Decline: Island Officials Scramble for Solutions - Phuket Wan

legitimate competition

one has more chance of encountering "legitimate competition" on the planet Pluto than on Phuket.

They'll be truly fukt when Burma opens up.

that is a good article, could well get the writers shot, but it is a good article.

Sometimes one can be a tad too cerebral in divining what a problem is.

Personally, I would have thought that being driven by some scrofulous chickenhead in a shitty taxi charging 2000 baht to travel from the airport to a resort, the same price as the airfare from Bangkok to the island, was perhaps a reasonable insight, especially when one considers the daily wage for a chickenhead is around 300-400 baht.

And of course, once one is in the resort one has to pay 200 baht to travel one kilometre in a fucking pig truck from one bar to another is perhaps another clue....

Dumbest,greediest fucks going, really.

Originally Posted by Stinky

They'll be truly fukt when Burma opens up.

you don't think myanmar will practice the same scamming corrupt model ?

Oh yes they'll defiantly do that, maybe even knocking the Thais off of their number one place in Asias scamming hotspots, but they'll still trawl a lot of the tourist trade away. I can already feel the Thai business owners outrage at having to share the tourists with a virgin market.

THA officials are hoping they can corner a greater share of revenue by creating their own booking agency through Sipa

Horse;stable door;bolt

Phuket used to be my favored destination, went there every year for more 30 years, but 10 years a ago I saw the rot setting in, rip off prices and attitude. I haven't been there since.

Originally Posted by peterpan

Phuket used to be my favored destination

I had a house there for years. Sold it shortly after the tsunami and haven't returned.
Like anywhere Phuket had it's upsides and downsides but after the tsunami it seemed to me greed set in and on balance, not a place of any interest to me.

Off to Phuket today.

I plan my trip to avoid using taxis at all except a few certain trips where I use a guy that we (Ant Robertson and I are going.... :-)) have known for some time. He provides a proper air con car at the same rate it would cost to get those stupid tuk tuk things that aren't taxis but defy description by a normal human being.

Happy contributing as little as possible to the local economy during my stay.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

Off to Phuket today.

Oh god, is it that time of the year again already?