PHUKET: Phuket International Airport is capable of expanding its arrivals and departures by 10 percent but that will be the ceiling, a senior Phuket tourism spokesperson says.
Bhuritt Maswongsa, Vice President of the Phuket Tourism Association, says that flight slots will all be filled soon - and no further growth will be possible.
Phuket has just a single runway, enough for 9.5 million arrivals and departures in 2012 but limiting for the future.
Airports of Thailand, which manages the Phuket facility, has never revealed details of plans for increasing traffic at Phuket from last year's record.
The airport will be capable of coping with 12.5 million passengers once an international terminal is open in 2015-16. However, the facility will still have just one runway.
Khun Bhuritt believes that Phuket is attracting the wrong kind of tourist and would like the industry and government to agree to a two-year turnaround in approach.
''The commitment to mass tourism means we have increasing numbers of people who are spending less on Phuket,'' he said today.
''The result is that the Government has less money to spend to develop the proper infrastructure that Phuket needs.''
He said that tourists who once spent 4200 baht a day on Phuket were now spending 3500 to 3800 baht.
What he is now suggesting is an intense period of spending by the Bangkok Government to catch up on the infrastructure that Phuket lacks.
''It should happen over the next two years,'' Khun Bhuritt says. ''The tourists need to be told it is going to happen.
''They will continue to come. But unless Phuket catches up with its infrastructure needs, the best of times for Phuket tourism may be over.''
Bhuritt Maswongsa, Vice President of the Phuket Tourism Association, says that flight slots will all be filled soon - and no further growth will be possible.
Phuket has just a single runway, enough for 9.5 million arrivals and departures in 2012 but limiting for the future.
Airports of Thailand, which manages the Phuket facility, has never revealed details of plans for increasing traffic at Phuket from last year's record.
The airport will be capable of coping with 12.5 million passengers once an international terminal is open in 2015-16. However, the facility will still have just one runway.
Khun Bhuritt believes that Phuket is attracting the wrong kind of tourist and would like the industry and government to agree to a two-year turnaround in approach.
''The commitment to mass tourism means we have increasing numbers of people who are spending less on Phuket,'' he said today.
''The result is that the Government has less money to spend to develop the proper infrastructure that Phuket needs.''
He said that tourists who once spent 4200 baht a day on Phuket were now spending 3500 to 3800 baht.
What he is now suggesting is an intense period of spending by the Bangkok Government to catch up on the infrastructure that Phuket lacks.
''It should happen over the next two years,'' Khun Bhuritt says. ''The tourists need to be told it is going to happen.
''They will continue to come. But unless Phuket catches up with its infrastructure needs, the best of times for Phuket tourism may be over.''
Theres a lot more infrastructure & upgrages needed than just the airport
disposal of garbage for example, if certain matters remain unaddressed phuket will become like a once swift snake that swallowed too large a prey
lethargic unmotivated at a standstill.
Posted by slickmelb on January 30, 2013 11:42