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Jet-Ski Operators told: Behave or You're Out
By Pathomporn Kaenkrachang Wednesday, September 21, 2011
PHUKET: The jet-ski operators of Patong have been given an ultimatum - prove in the next two years that you can go without ripping off Phuket tourists or peddling drugs, or you will lose your livelihoods.
Patong Deputy Superintendent Lieutenant Colonel Pratya Jansomwong and two other Phuket police officers delivered the ultimatum from Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha to about 30 members of the Patong Jet-Ski Club yesterday.
The vice president of the club, Nucha Petchwimon, told Phuketwan that jet-ski operators were under no illusions: ''We know that if there are complaints, our jobs are on the line.''
The jet-ski operators were told that there had been allegations that Patong jet-ski staff also sold drugs to tourists.
Police would test jet-ski staff for drugs on October 3, Khun Nucha said today, making positive results a little unlikely.
Essentially, the jet-ski operators have been told to self regulate their industry, to get rid of the ''bad boys'' themselves within two years, or face official action.
The club members who attended the meeting at Kathu Police Station yesterday were almost all the owners of Patong's jet-skis. Patong is the Phuket beach with by far the majority of complaints from tourists.
Patong's jet-ski owners will now be required to keep accurate records of their staff - thought to number about 200 - and the daily activities of their staff, Lieutenant Colonel Pratya told the meeting.
Phuket has 286 insured and registered jet-skis, which operate with permission from only six points: Patong, Kata, Karon, Kamala, Bang Tao and Naka Island.
A total of 167 insured jet-skis operate from Patong, and tourists are advised to look for yellow Ayuthaya Insurance stickers.
Given the significance of yesterday's meeting, the absence of the governor or one of Phuket's three vice governors made for a low-key delivery of the two-year ultimatum.
Also absent from the meeting were the Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, Colonel Arayapan Pukbuakao, who oversees Patong, and Chief of Phuket's Marine Office 5, Phuripat Theerakulpisut. Marine Office 5 oversees jet-ski registration.
Pressure for action to stop the rip-offs of tourists on Patong beach has come from Phuket's honorary consuls.
Incidents reported by Phuketwan and other Phuket media are believed to be just a small fraction of the scams perpetrated on Patong beach.
Anyone who feels they are being scammed is advised to contact Tourist Police or telephone their nation's honorary consul or embassy before money changes hands. An Australian Government department is making a video warning tourists about jet-ski rip-offs and other scams on Phuket following lack of action by local authorities.
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Phuket Jet-Ski Scammers 'Rip Off 150,000 Baht'
Patong Rip Offs Tourists are scammed of 150,000 baht as the meeting between honorary consuls and the Governor is asked: ''We've had this problem for 10 years. When will it end?''
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Krabi Bans Jet-Skis, Loungers, Shows Phuket How
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Latest A tourist from South Africa claims to have paid an extra 69,000 baht to a jet ski operator at Patong despite having an insurance policy covering damage.
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Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
They have been given grace periods before without any positive result. What is the use of another two years? They bank on the fact that in two years, they get another grace period by a different phuyai.
Posted by
Anonymous
on
September 21, 2011 13:10
They couldn't meet the seven year deadline in the ten or twelve years that have passed since it was set, what chance two?
Posted by
ssresident
on
September 21, 2011 13:13
Editor Comment:
Actually the seven-year deadline that was intended to rid Phuket of all jet-skis expired in March.
Another waring simply showing that the authorities don't have the courage to take the crooked operators off the beach. Everyone is to scared to touch these ratbags. The problem is many tourists are not being made aware of these scams before they rent and don't know who to go to after it happens. This warning is another step backwards. A much harder approach is required.
Posted by
mal c
on
September 21, 2011 13:18
Two years to clean up..... LMAO!!!!! how about two weeks... another joke and lip service from the government. Be interesting to see if the consuls are in agreement with this.
Posted by
john s
on
September 21, 2011 13:21
Time for the consuls to issue the warnings they have been threatening. The fact that key officials couldn't find time to put their weight behind this speaks volumes.
Posted by
soupdragon
on
September 21, 2011 13:33
Ok, maybe a start...now the black taxis. Take them off the road, registered taxis only. Misbehave and lose your license.
Posted by
swerv
on
September 21, 2011 14:11
How disheartening. So now they are back on triple secret probation? If they wait two years to resolve this it will be closing the barn door after the cows are out. The amount of further damage that the outlaws in this group can do to tourism is obvious. The implication here is that there is another two year grace period where bad behavior will be allowed while they have the excuse of "we still have time" and "relax, we gave them two years to fix it, we knew there would be scofflaws". Even if at the end of two years action is taken (sadly unlikely) that means that such behavior will continue after two years. It does not leave much room for hope. Again the dangling prospect is out there for a serious conflict, injury or even death from one of these confrontations. At that point a chuckle and a shoulder shrug will not bring tourists back.
Posted by
Martin
on
September 21, 2011 15:28
sounds a bit like bull to me. they were already given seven years. Krabi can do it , why can't Phuket.
Posted by
Michael
on
September 21, 2011 16:17
They forgot to mention they are on Laem Sing beach as well!
Posted by
phill
on
September 21, 2011 16:55
Editor Comment:
Call in the authorities.
2 weeks notice for drugs tests- why didn't bangla bar girls get the same treatment? ............and 2 more years to sort themselves out - I bet they were shaking in their flip flops at that one (with suppressed laughter!!)
Posted by
Mister Ree
on
September 21, 2011 17:18
Good initiative ... however and this is not to ruin the party here .. in 2 years time there will still be rip offs, jet ski scams and maybe even scams we don't know yet ...and there will be more tourists as well...tourist are easy prey in Phuket and elsewhere and it is simply too tempting for some people , they cannot resist...some may even think it is fair to take a bit from the rich farangs and cannot see anything wrong with that...
Posted by
Bjarne
on
September 21, 2011 17:42
You couldn't make this up. None of the relevant top officials there. No-one will enforce and many of the officials responsible will probably have moved on in two years. Turn a blind eye and delay action... a great policy. Well done.
Posted by
Duncan
on
September 21, 2011 19:29
Two more years? And we will have another governor, another chief of police and the same old problems! Interested to see how the consuls respond.
Posted by
Nip
on
September 21, 2011 20:58
It's a shame. For all the efforts by both Thai people and foreign diplomatic representatives to combat corruption, scams and aggression, stories like this remind you of just how embedded the grafting culture is.
Seven years to clear up the jet ski situation and now another 2 years grace to do so. And barely a senior public official of note in sight.
Jet-ski operators could be forgiven for wiping away tears of laughter at this latest non-initiative. It's not just that it's ineffective, non-binding and unlikely ever to be enforced. It makes a mockery of all the other efforts to effect real change.
It also gives the impression that whatever about encroaching on public beaches or gouging Nepalese tailors, there are two scams too big and too profitable for all parties to be touched - tuk tuks and jet skis.
I was reading an interesting piece on another site, where the author did something of a straw poll amongst Phuket visitors he was talking to. About 25% of them said that they would never return to Phuket. 1 in 4. What proportion of visitors to the Maldives or Bali would you guess say the same? 5%? 2%? 1%?
There's probably a window of about 3 years or less to save Phuket from an irreversible downwards spiral. By the time the new international terminal is there, the tourism trends on Phuket will already have been set. The way it's looking is that the high-end tourists are increasingly abandoning the place - a German Honorary Counsel recently characterized German tourism to the island as "dropping like a stone".
Phuket tourism will split into two camps. Five star resorts with 3 metre high fences around them, offering a complete and controlled holiday experience. And low-end tourists, filling up countless drab hotel rooms at discount prices, who will put little or nothing into the local economy.
Then it won't matter what backhanders or political stunts are pulled by the vested interests, because the tuk tuks, jet-skis and over-priced tat will be left ignored, to rot.
Posted by
Doug
on
September 21, 2011 21:17
Just dreaming here, but maybe post signs on the beach with a phone number to settle disputes ( and not the local plod)
Posted by
mikey
on
September 21, 2011 22:07
1) Two days should be enough, 2 hours might do as well.
2) Isn't it marvelous, drug abusers get a schedule about when they have to be clean for one day?
3) while they prepare the records of their staff, what about their staff's health insurance, proof of income tax, ...
Posted by
Fritz Pinguin
on
September 22, 2011 00:42
So if there is only 6 legal locations for jet skis then why do we still have them on Surin Beach and Laem Singh?? Seems no one is policing the Jet ski brigades for the rest of the Island??? Why is Patong the only place that is being targeted for a clean up? I've seen the operators on both of these two beaches ripping off tourists as well.
Posted by
passionate About Phuket
on
September 22, 2011 03:34
They even have them INSIDE the lagoons at the Laguna hotels (Dusit, Laguna Beach etc) when the sea is too rough, and warning letters in the hotel rooms not to use them. They roar past the rooms all day and disturb and endanger guests using non-motorised stuff like hobies and windsurfers (usually young holidaymaker beginners). Unlike the beach, the lagoons are owned by the Laguna hotels group.
Posted by
dan ryan
on
September 22, 2011 05:59
dan ryan,
That's just amazing..So why does not Laguna, one of the major resorts in the whole of Asia actually, do anything? These huge international hotels with all their resources are actually scared of a few uneducated "beach boys"? All these hotels should have considerable clout when it comes to dealing with Jet Skis, Tuk Tuks or black taxis. Instead they give them parking space at the hotel parking lot sometimes! Hotels need to act responsibly!
Posted by
christian
on
September 22, 2011 07:42
Editor Comment:
Let's hope resorts and their responsibilities becomes one of the points dealt with after PATA and SKAL get together for the first time this Saturday. Where does CSR begin and end? Resorts are quick to see the margins in ''soft'' issues (saving turtles, cleaning beaches) but long-term, Phuket's ''hard'' social issues may prove costly unless they are faced. How can resorts collectively and individually help a community to sort right from wrong? How many Phuket resort staffers will march against corruption on Sunday?
[quote]
How many Phuket resort staffers will march against corruption on Sunday?
[/quote]
Probably quite a few if we knew what this march is!
I haven't read anything about an anti-corruption march in Phuket this Sunday. Please can you publicise these details, (such as a dedicated article calling on all concerned parties to join the march) - and I for one, will try to give my active support to this event.
Simon
Posted by
Simon Luttrell
on
September 22, 2011 09:35
Editor Comment:
I'm not sure we can do any more, Simon, than write an article and put it into the rotator on the front page.
I would add that any reporter worth his salt would demand, publish, and otherwise widely disseminate, an explanation from the top Laguna management.
Posted by
dan ryan
on
September 22, 2011 09:47
Editor Comment:
Why would ''any reporter worth his salt'' do that? Do reporters all have to be male, dan? What Laguna does on its property is its own affair. Reporters everywhere, male or female, are not in the habit of ''demanding'' anything. You are confusing us with vigilantes.
Alan
I seem to be confusing you with a reporter.
Posted by
dan ryan
on
September 22, 2011 10:18
Editor Comment:
We do what's in Phuket's best interests, dan, not in knee-jerk reaction to impulsive readers. If you have a gripe with the way Laguna is managed, take it up with Laguna management. (But I wouldn't be surprised if some other reporter looking for a sensational angle on the issue beats you to it.)
what a joke, they have already been given a deadline, it looks like a green light for bandits and their protectors to continue their activities.And also to give impression that authorities are doing something which in fact is useless.
Posted by
petermach
on
September 25, 2011 23:11
5 scammers were arrested in pattaya a few days ago
http://www.pattayamail.com/news/saudi-arabian-tourist-stand-up-to-the-jet-ski-scammers-6520
Posted by
mal c
on
September 26, 2011 18:58
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They have been given grace periods before without any positive result. What is the use of another two years? They bank on the fact that in two years, they get another grace period by a different phuyai.
Posted by Anonymous on September 21, 2011 13:10