HAS it been a Phuket high season from hell? Hardly. Most statistics for Phuket have improved.

Has it been the high season of hope? Nope. The Bangkok reds, with their blood sacrifice and sit-ins, have put paid to that.

For Phuket, this high season has been a bit of both, hell and hope. Mostly, there is confusion. More tourists coming, but apparently with less money to spend.

At the beginning of the high season, Bangornrat Shinaprayoon arrived to take up the role of regional director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Now she says: ''The room rate may be lower than before but the total for tourism is quite all right. Compared to other destinations, including Chiang Mai and Pattaya, Phuket is going well.''

She says people are not spending as much as they once did, and that applies everywhere. January and Chinese New Year brought some healthy occupancy rates, especially in Patong, she says.

New flights from China and Iran are a sign of a more promising monsoon season. The arrival of luxury cruise liners also provided a bonus, along with US Navy visits.

Best of all, more than half of Phuket's arrivals are repeat tourists and Khun Bangornrat has seen nothing to indicate that they are not coming back.

But that could change with awareness of Phuket's growing reputation for rip-offs.

''We are concerned about the tuk-tuk problem,'' she said. ''Public transport for Phuket is the first priority.''

Has there been an increase in complaints? ''Mostly they are about tuk-tuks,'' she said. ''But there are others about over-charging. Over-charging is the main point that brings complaints.''

Another problem is discounting itself, which is good for the individual who wins a cut in price but bad for Phuket's image when people on the same trip, or even the same tour, find they are paying different prices.

''Operators would all benefit from the government setting standard prices,'' she says.

There's also a growing proportion of tourist visitors to Phuket who fly in, under the radar. While resorts and guesthouses relay their occupancy rate figures to the TAT, villas and condos do not.

So the own-your-own travellers and their guests go unrecorded, if not unloved. It's a problem Phuket is not complaining about.

On the question of guides from source countries coming with tour groups, Khun Bangornrat says: ''It's difficult for us to control. We are very keen to encourage more independent travellers.''

Are there more ''cheap charlie'' travellers coming to Phuket these days? Not obiously, Khun Bangornrat says, but a huge surge in the growth of one- two- and three-star accommodation has meant that more people with lower disposable incomes have been able to come to Phuket. She sees it as a broading of Phuket's market, rather than a downgrade.

Patong, she says, has its place in the spectrum of Phuket attractions because some tourists like to come for the nightlife. She was a frequent visitor to Phuket before taking on her regional job.

She thinks the development of the long-awaited conference centre at Mai Khao, in the north of Phuket, will inevitably open up the growth of tourism in the southern part of Phang Nga, bringing with it the real benefits of a ''Greater Phuket'' approach to marketing the region.

''Phang Nga's vision is ecotourism,'' she said. ''They have some great dive sites, including the Similans, and big national parks. That will sit nicely with Phuket. If you don't like Patong, you can go north to enjoy the forests, or go diving, or to lay on the beach.''

As for the coming low/monsoon/summer season, she says: ''I hope it will be better than last year. We have new flights coming from Iran and we expect traffic from the Middle east to improve by 30 percent.''

And her favorite place on Phuket? ''I like Nai Yang beach because it is quiet,'' she says. ''It is not crowded.''

The TAT will be backing a Phuket roadshow later this month to Korea, to be followed later in the year by a similar campaign to Australia.