Phuket hotels and resorts are ready and eager for the return of tourist and this less than one month after the Indian Ocean Tsunami wave hit the island of Phuket. Life and business are back to normal across most of Phuket island with the white sand beaches looking more pristine than ever. The only problem being is that tourists are not here.
Islanders working in the tourist industry and staff from the many Phuket hotels are desperate for their jobs and source of income and they would like to see tourists and holidaymakers return in mass to Phuket to spend their holiday.
Please come back to Phuket, cried a Thai lady who lost her job at a seafood restaurant, due to lack of customers, and now sells fruit from a small street-side stall near Patong Beach.
Several smaller Phuket hotels with bungalows directly on the beach were severally damaged but the larger Phuket hotels suffered only minor damage, mostly to the pool infrastructure, the carpet floors and electrical installations (due to the sea water).
Those hotels and resorts were never closed or have since been reopened, after repairs had been carried out and the pools cleaned out.
Most of Phuket island was untouched by the Tsunami, which hit the western beaches but left Phuket City and 92 percent of the other beaches just as they were before the Tsunami came rolling in.
The beaches and hotels in Phuket are ready to welcome holidaymakers, said a Thailand tourism official. Only about 2,000 of Phuket's 55,000 hotel rooms were damaged, mostly in smaller hotels right on the beach and most of those damaged hotel rooms have since been repaired. Unfortunately, tourists don't know about this due to very unfair reporting from the sensation hungry World Media, the Thailand official further added.
Where are the cameras and reporters now? asked a Phuket shop owner, Why don't they show images of the very clean beach and the tourists strolling along beach road while enjoying the hospitality of a beautiful repaired Phuket.
The average occupancy in Phuket hotels and resorts has fallen from the usual 90 percent to only 10 percent. The tsunami toll for Phuket can be measured in jobs lost in the tourism industry and entertainment business with roughly 130,000 jobs lost since the Tsunami hit Thailand on 26 December 2005. For most Phuket residents, the answer to their financial problem is very simple: Bring the tourists back to Phuket so that we can serve them.
Last week, many new colorful umbrellas and beach-chairs re-appeared on the beaches of Patong. Nearly all the small shops and seafood restaurants that were damaged along the beach road have since been repaired and are eager for customers.
We are living from our savings, said a Thai woman who run a small business on the beach with her husband. We can still survive for three or four months if customers don't start to come back
The people of Phuket are angry and fumed On the International Media Coverage of the tsunami, complaining that reporters in their sensation reports made the damage appear a thousand times worse than the reality is by only reporting repeatedly on the few areas that were damaged, while they themselves were enjoying the pleasures that Phuket has to offer.
The international TV media said that Phuket was destroyed, but now that I am here, I see that Phuket is fine and the islanders have done a terrific job in cleaning up the mess, said an Italian holidaymaker who spends several months a year in Thailand. I am happy I came back, look how attractive and clean the beach is, he said while pointing across the street. Why is no-one helping those poor people of Phuket getting that message out to the world?, the Italian asked.
