Red shirts add to Phuket's tourism blues (Feature)

By Alasdair Forbes May 20, 2010, 1:39 GMT

Phuket, Thailand - In shops on Patong beach, Phuket, you used to be able to buy T-shirts boldly lettered with a bitter commentary on the ups and downs of the tourism industry, listing them: '9-11, SARS, Iraq War, Tsunami, Bird Flu. What next?'

Next, of course, was 'GFC' - the global financial crisis. And this year the island has been hit by a double whammy, 'Volcano and Red Shirts.'

The Icelandic volcano that spewed plumes of ash over Europe, grounding tens of thousands of flights, had an immediate effect, but very few people, it seems, have been scared to fly to Phuket once the skies were clear.

The red shirt rebellion and rampage are another thing entirely.

As with the Asian Tsunami in 2004, TV coverage of the ongoing street battles in Bangkok between the Thai Army and red-shirted anti- government rioters tainted the whole of Thailand by association, and hammered the tourism numbers.

Minister of Tourism Chumpol Silapa-Archa grumbled about the problem in a May 5 speech at the Arabian Travel Market.

'The trouble is located in a very small area in Bangkok, but (watching TV reports) you would think it was all over the country,' he said.

'(In) most of Bangkok and all of the rest of the country, in places like Phuket and Samui, there is no trouble at all, and it is perfectly safe.'

Travel warnings from governments around the world have not helped.

Britain, Germany and Australia are the three biggest sources of tourists for Phuket. German government has advised its citizens to stay away from Bangkok but notes: 'Other tourist destinations in the southern part of the country are not affected by the protests at this time.'

London, however, warns: 'Throughout Thailand there is a continued risk that protests may result in violent disturbances. There is a high threat from terrorism throughout Thailand.'

Australians are advised of a 'strong possibility of violent clashes in Bangkok and in other parts of Thailand between demonstrators and security forces.'

After this week's crackdown on the red shirts in Bangkok, there were indeed outbreaks of violence in the provinces but mostly in the north and north-east, not the south, which is pro-government.

That means that package tours are cancelled as travel insurance companies scramble to suspend travel policies. And cautious, beach- loving FITs decide to go to Bali or Malaysia instead.

This is nothing new for Phuket, but it's still depressing for anyone in the travel or related businesses. While Thailand as a whole relies on tourism for only about 7 per cent of gross domestic product, in Phuket tourism is by far the dominant money maker and employer.

Down among the bars of Patong, Phuket's entertainment hub, times are hard, thanks to the violence in the capital.

'Business last year was 50-50,' said Tik, the Thai manager of one bar. 'This year it's nit noi (very little).'

The Phuket Tourist Association recorded a drop of almost 30 per cent of international arrivals in 2009 due to the global financial crisis but was predicting a gradual recovery this year.

That prediction has now gone in the rubbish bin. Forward hotel bookings for June are at 15 per cent. June to October are traditionally slow months, but that figure is exceptionally slow.

But some tourists understand that this is a temporary problem, and that Phuket is a long way from the capital.

Liane and Markus Dammann from Frankfurt have been coming to Phuket for holidays once or twice a year for more than 20 years.

They spend their days on the beach in front of the Holiday Inn and were not at all worried about the 'troubles' in Bangkok.

'It's an error of perception,' Liane says. 'If you see it on TV, you think it's in your room. But it's far away. We're not afraid. In Bangkok it's a problem, but not here.'

Aaron Williams of Melbourne agrees: 'It's the first time I've been here, but I did a bit of research, and you could see that you didn't want to go to Bangkok. But here it's fine.'

For the record, the people of Phuket have always been staunch supporters of the ruling Democrat Party. Roughly 1,000 people out of the island's estimated population of some 500,000 support the red- shirt cause, and they have been careful not to disrupt island life.

Even so, the Bangkok chaos has a nationwide fallout on tourism.

At the rate disasters keep besetting Phuket's tourism industry, the T-shirt-makers of Patong are going to have to use smaller type, just to accommodate the ever-growing list.