PHUKET would dearly love to have a future as a destination for more upscale travellers, the kind of people who will visit the island on Wednesday on board the luxurious cruise liner Queen Mary 2.

But those well-to-do travellers are actually becoming harder to find, and even harder to attract.

The era of change now reshaping the travel industry became even more pronounced today with the revelation that Qantas plans to slash its first class seats.

It's the kind of demolition job that some of those folk in cattle class might relish the chance to perform, given the opportunity.

Now comes news that Qantas is wielding the knife itself, planning to dump two-thirds of its first-class as part of a radical $400 million carve-up of its long-haul fleet.

In the 21st century, with profligacy a fling of the past and moderation the order of the era, the big spenders are being reduced to a handful of celebrities and ex-wives of the rich and famous.

AirAsia and other budget fliers have driven the development of the low-cost ''everyone can fly'' mentality to the point where would-be refugees are catching low-priced flights, no longer needing to risk their lives in ricketty boats.

And Air New Zealand even has plans to on-sell its revolutionary concept of turning economy class seats into sleepers.

So out the door at 20,000 feet without a parachute goes the notion that air travel is for the wealthy, a myth that has sustained the concept of classes in corporate brand airlines virtually since the Wright brothers first found wings.

Qantas's international patronage was down nearly 23 percent in the 12 months to November year on year, say newspaper reports.

Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation chairman Peter Harbison said: ''It's an enormously expensive process to reconfigure existing aircraft - you don't want to do it any time before you are absolutely convinced that things aren't going to improve.

"Premium economy seems to be really where the action is at the moment for business travellers that need a bit of space but don't want to pay business class,'' he told Bloomberg.

''It's a considerable re-think of the future of premium travel.''

Under the plan, leaked in an Australian financial newspaper today and expected to be announced within weeks, Australia's flagship carrier would only retain first class seats on routes between Sydney and Los Angeles and Sydney and London.

Qantas is increasingly focusing on those main routes and pulling back on most other routes as its low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar, takes over.

Jetstar has helped to revive tourism numbers on Phuket, where the same kind of economic equation is also at work beyond the airlines, throughout the tourism industry.

Five-star and four-star resort discounting has made the island poorer, but mostly wiser. Revenue drops of around 20 percent are reckoned by several sources to be about right.

Just as Qantas has discovered that it needs to reconfigure its seating for the cash-conscious traveller, so Phuket's best brains have been streamlining their offerings, too.

What needs to happen, though, for the island to be sure of its future is for the strategy to be universally adopted. All segments of the industry need to understand why change is required, and to act accordingly.

When it comes to public transport on Phuket, all those expensive first class seats at premium rates on tuk-tuks and in taxis simply have to go. Our joking suggestion that AirAsia take over the island's tuk-tuks and taxis now seems not such a bad idea.