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Mayor Ma-Ann Samran directs seizure of illegal chairs and umbrellas today

Phuket Officials Won't Make Beach Chair Arrests, Says Governor

Tuesday, April 21, 2015
PHUKET: Governor Nisit Jansomwong promised today that police will not be handing brochures to tourists or confiscating beach chairs and umbrellas from tourists.

There was one month left in his three-month experiment to devote 10 percent of all of Phuket's beaches to umbrella hire and provision of services, the governor said.

Hours before the governor made his promise to Phuket's horoary consuls, local Mayor Ma-Ann Samran led 20 volunteers on a raid to seize tables, chairs and umbrellas at an illegal beach restaurant at Phuket's Lay Pang beach.

The mayor - sometimes wrongly portrayed as a ''president'' - said that checks would continue to be made in his Cherng Talay region on a daily basis to ensure nothing illegal was happening on the beaches.

The six tables, 18 chairs and 10 umbrellas confiscated today were carted off when nobody claimed ownership. The local authorities believe they know the name of the owner, but he was nowhere to be found today.

Cherng Talay police will make further inquiries. Mats and other equipment from previous raids are now piling up at Cherng Talay council offices.

A little later, Governor Nisit told honorary consuls that from now on, brochures and information would go into all resorts on Phuket so tourists could understand new rules.

''It could take up to one year for tourists to learn what's changed on Phuket,,'' he said.

Prince of Songkhla University was doing a survey, the governor said.

Dutch honorary consul Seven Smulders said it would be good if the university interviewed the consuls about their feedback from tourists.

At a meeting at the university a couple of weeks ago, a resort manager noticed that the Songkhla survey did not even included the prospect of leaving the beaches fully cleared, the way they all were after the Army moved along them in June last year.

If ''no commerce at all'' is not included in the Songkhla survey, questions should be raised about whether the survey is genuine or skewed in favor of commercial interests.

Swiss honorary consul Andrea Kotas Tammathin asked why there was a difference between the approach in Pattaya and Phuket.

Governor Nisit said provincial management varied. There was a huge number of beach chairs in Pattaya, and it was now being reduced by a tender process.

One person would operate the beach chairs and umbrellas.

''On Phuket the reasons for change are different,'' he said. ''There is a conflict between groups, so I cannot operate a tendering process.''

The governor said he wanted to protect the beaches. ''Our beaches have been destroyed enough,'' he said.

''That's why we need no alcohol, no smoking on the beaches. I would like the tourists to respect our rules as well.''

Phuketwan and other critics of the 10 percent scheme believe the system will be seen to work during the low season but fail when there are many more tourists on the beaches next high season.

Better to abolish all commercial activity and let tourists bring their own umbrellas and chairs, PW believes.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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Why bother? Nothing has changed. Scores die or are maimed on the roads. Women continue to be exploited, copyright continues to be breached and ignorance prevails - only a fool would say otherwise. If they still have the freedom to express their bigotry, of course.

Posted by gee on April 21, 2015 20:57

Editor Comment:

The statement of a mindless Doomsayer, gee, a person who wallows in misery. Without people speaking out, positive change will never come. Unless people speak out, change will be for the worse.

You don't seem to get it.

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So Mayor Samran says that checks would continue on a daily basis to ensure nothing illegal was happening on the beaches. The last 2 days have seen the jetski thugs creeping back onto the sand at Surin. It also appears that some establishments continue to be entitled to continue illegal business as usual, and some appear to have "special privileges" (as in The Pools Club, the new mega crap-hole of a building on the south portion of the beach). The southern parking lot is 100% vendors, the northern portion is eaten up by taxis.

I also love the governor's statement...''Our beaches have been destroyed enough,''. Well it isn't tourists bringing their own stuff to the beach that have destroyed anything, it is the incorrigible vendors that ruined it, and all it would take is active policing to keep them away (as in constant foot patrols, all day, every day). It really is that simple. Patong is a dump of a beach... efforts need to be put forth to clean the place, and get the tuktuk slobs off the street and tell them to stop littering!

Posted by Ed Sanders on April 21, 2015 21:36

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on beaches of Monaco there are no sun beds or umbrellas
https://instagram.com/p/1vYcaRjlVa/

(don't mix up with Monaco beach clubs which are mostly on a cliff or at artificial elevation)

Posted by Sue on April 21, 2015 21:49

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@ED: People have spoken out and no one has listened to the people.
They have listened to the fat cats running the show.

Posted by Tbs on April 21, 2015 23:47

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Alcohol and smoking of tourists did not 'destroy' the Phuket beaches.
It are the illigal non tax paying wealthy thai beach vendors who did that by making the public beaches their domain with permission of local Obor Tor's.

And why would a 'conflict between groups' block the Governor of operating a tendering process? Who now is 'running' Phuket island?

Posted by Kurt on April 22, 2015 04:05

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I was laughing! How can tourists being arrested for bringing their own stuff to the public beaches, as long as no arrests are made during seizure of illegal dining tables, chairs, umbrellas of a illegal beach restaurant?
It seems there is no juridical law back up to justify arrests. Or is there another reason?

Posted by Kurt on April 22, 2015 05:17

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Ed says: "Unless people speak out, change will be for the worse. Unless the subject matter is the ethical treatment of elephants in Phuket, in which case you are just wasting your breath and lowing your own trumpet".

Posted by Elephants Gerald on April 22, 2015 06:17

Editor Comment:

I left out the word ''intelligently'' EG. ''Unless people speak out intelligently . . .'' I assumed your intelligence. Sorry.

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Apology accepted....Hey, wait a minute......

Posted by Elephants Gerald on April 22, 2015 08:40

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What happened to the 7 days given for the illegal restaurants and bars to vacate Surin beach? How many times are we to hear this broken record?

Posted by Arun Muruga on April 22, 2015 10:05

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Hard to take the governor seriously as long as he fail to ban the Jet Ski's ... " our beaches has been destroyed enough" he said.... pity and shameful...

Posted by frog on April 22, 2015 11:07

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Without people speaking out, positive change will never come. Unless people speak out, change will be for the worse.

Ok I am willing to speak out.

Bring the damm sunbeds,umbrellas,and food vendors back.We tourist want and need them.I want to see 100s and 100s of
sunbeds covering the beach..
I want to lay on my sunbed happily drinking beer and smoking while getting
a massage.
Folks this is what Phuket is all about
enjoying yourself..

Posted by bob on April 22, 2015 11:09

Editor Comment:

You mean ''enjoying myself.''

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''That's why we need no alcohol, no smoking on the beaches. I would like the tourists to respect our rules as well.''

The governor is absolutely right about the fact, that prohibiting these bad habits is the most important matter for beach protection.

Posted by Sherlock on April 22, 2015 12:57

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Why dont they just put beach chairs in the 10% zone???? Now u have to pay for a mat on the sand and how do older people lay on the ground, i am comming to phuket in June for my 10th time and my mother and aunt are comming with and it will be hard for them to stand up from the sand. I am looking for new destinations in the future for me my wife and 7 and 4 year old daughters

Posted by Jacques on April 22, 2015 13:06

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@Jacques, Mexico next bye bye Phuket god by, The most off the biggest Traveling Company in Europe and special Scandinavian booking the most off the Hotell in Mexico and Caribbean

Posted by Bjorn Ronningen on April 22, 2015 14:41

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@ Bob - You need to speak for yourself...most tourists DON'T want to see hundreds of stupid beach all lined up in perfect rows with a bunch of fat ass smokers and drunks that leave their trash behind for the Thais to pick up...which they don't, because they don't care about trashy environments. And to Jacques... nobody cares if you don't show up again...there will be plenty more people that come and appreciate the natural beach. Bon voyage

Posted by Richard Vickers on April 22, 2015 15:29

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I was in Surin 5 days ago. Jetskis were on the beach which I believe are illegal on Surin. Vendors were openly renting umbrellas and mats outside of the 10% area which is in itself a complete joke as it is at the far southern end. There was just one person there! The rest of the beach looked great but there were umbrellas, beach chairs and mats. Vendors are back in the car park. The top car park is a disgrace - full of rubbish. Of course there were no lifeguards (I believe now resolved). Hopefully the governor will abandon his 10% ruling.

Posted by Anonymous on April 22, 2015 15:50

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@ Richard - "most tourists DON'T want to see ..."

Is that a personal opinion or a fact you can prove?

Perhaps you also can prove, that most people want the water dominated by jet-skis?

Or that tourism and employment never has been better on Phuket?

Posted by Sherlock on April 22, 2015 17:50

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Has a date been set for the next honorary consuls meeting ?

Posted by Paul on April 22, 2015 19:03

Editor Comment:

No.

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The things is that the vendors will keep coming back because apart from livelihood, they don't want to lose their patch. It is a cat and mouse game between them and the authorities to see who will tire first. There is a cost to all of this, so again this will be a big influence to the outcomes. Personally I think it is a little unfair to see the likes of Nikki Beach Club unaffected and thriving on the opposite end of Bangtao beach, when others are having their clubs removed. It must bring some feelings of resentment, especially to the locals. It may be that Nikki Beach Club covered themselves by doing things legally if such a thing exists, whereas the other establishments took the wrong routes in the current regime? Still, there is plenty to enjoy with nature and self catering in the form of picnics if people respect the surroundings and the local authorities provide sufficient trash cans. I still don't understand if the bottom line is to eradicate commercialism on the beaches to why jet skis are allowed to be excused from all of this.

Posted by irishkev24 on April 22, 2015 21:35

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@sherlock and richard u are obviously living in thailand and not tourists , wake up and open your eyes,i am 100 % for the clean beaches but how the on earth are u not allowed to bring your own umbrella ???? Now u have to pay for an umbrella and if there is not enough umbrellas and it will definitetly be the problem in high season, u are suppose to sit in the sun with your children, in one of the hottest places in the world, so obviously u have never heard of skin cancer!!!!! Every body is comming to phuket for the beaches and having a beach holliday idiots!! U know what i am comming in june and will bring my own umbrella to the beach for my children and will not pay 200 baht for 1 umbrella to rent, and if someone arest me or tak my umbrella i will take a video and put it on social media , to show the world how u are nit allowe to bring an umbrella on a public beach in phuket what is supposed to be a beach holliday for the rest of the world

Posted by Jacques on April 23, 2015 02:09

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My husband and I have just returned from two weeks in Patong. After having previously read the reports on what is happening on the beaches I was prepared for a grim time on the beach. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Granted it's not high season but there were plenty of mats and umbrellas in the 10% zone. The great thing about the zoning is that the jet skis and parasailing have their own sections of beach and sea. Prior to the zoning they were all mixed in together and were an absolute hazard on the beach and in the water. It cost 200 baht for one umbrella and two foam mats. Unfortunately, the vendors aren't very creative and don't like splitting that up, so even if you only need one mat, you pay for two.

Posted by Itsamystery on April 23, 2015 08:53

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"Governor Nisit told honorary consuls that from now on, brochures and information would go into all resorts on Phuket so tourists could understand new rules"

Which tourists? Normally at this time our resort has about 60-70 booking requests for the upcoming season. This year we have 2.

Janeeta
Ginis Beach Resort

Posted by Janeeta on April 23, 2015 14:47

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The owner of the chairs umbrellas and tables unable to be found did they set one up and hold a 100 baht note in their hand,how strange the owner suddenly become a shy little flower.

Posted by slickmelb on April 25, 2015 02:10


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