AT THE URGING of top government and tourism leaders, Kathu Municipality has removed several billboards along the main road connecting Phuket City and Patong.
The tessabaan's mayor, Chaianan Sutthikun, told Phuketwan today that removal of all 1x20 metre and 2x20 metre signs began on January 1, and took about four days to complete.
No count of the number of signs removed was made, but there were "many", he said.
The billboards, owned and operated by the municipality and leased to advertisers on three-month contracts, were taken down to make the area look more clean and orderly, and also to help prevent accidents.
The road leading from the Tesco-Lotus intersection over the steep hill to Patong is the site of many accidents and the distracting billboards contributed to the problem, Khun Chaianan said.
All advertising contracts had finished at the end of December and were not renewed.
It is not the end to billboard advertising in Kathu, however.
Municipal technicians are preparing a new billboard advertising plan that will have new regulations on location, size and placement, Khun Chaianan explained.
The new plan is set to be complete by the end of this month.
Billboards lining the island's roads have been a source of complaints among tourists and local residents who say they detract from Phuket's natural beauty.
Former director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Phuket office, Suwalai Pinpradab, has been an outspoken critic of billboards, saying that the signs have made Phuket ugly.
Thailand's new Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said on his visit to the island last month that Phuket had "failed the test" in being a tourist destination because of the billboard proliferation.
Khun Kasit is advocating turning Phuket into a "special economic zone" and has urged the new Democrat-led government to boost funding to the island to develop its tourism infrastructure.
Phuket Promise: Special Island Economic Zone
Photo Album Phuket can look forward in 2009 to government promises made by a senior minister. In the new deal: the island becomes a special economic zone and gains fair annual funding.
Phuket Promise: Special Island Economic Zone
The tessabaan's mayor, Chaianan Sutthikun, told Phuketwan today that removal of all 1x20 metre and 2x20 metre signs began on January 1, and took about four days to complete.
No count of the number of signs removed was made, but there were "many", he said.
The billboards, owned and operated by the municipality and leased to advertisers on three-month contracts, were taken down to make the area look more clean and orderly, and also to help prevent accidents.
The road leading from the Tesco-Lotus intersection over the steep hill to Patong is the site of many accidents and the distracting billboards contributed to the problem, Khun Chaianan said.
All advertising contracts had finished at the end of December and were not renewed.
It is not the end to billboard advertising in Kathu, however.
Municipal technicians are preparing a new billboard advertising plan that will have new regulations on location, size and placement, Khun Chaianan explained.
The new plan is set to be complete by the end of this month.
Billboards lining the island's roads have been a source of complaints among tourists and local residents who say they detract from Phuket's natural beauty.
Former director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Phuket office, Suwalai Pinpradab, has been an outspoken critic of billboards, saying that the signs have made Phuket ugly.
Thailand's new Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said on his visit to the island last month that Phuket had "failed the test" in being a tourist destination because of the billboard proliferation.
Khun Kasit is advocating turning Phuket into a "special economic zone" and has urged the new Democrat-led government to boost funding to the island to develop its tourism infrastructure.
Phuket Promise: Special Island Economic Zone
Photo Album Phuket can look forward in 2009 to government promises made by a senior minister. In the new deal: the island becomes a special economic zone and gains fair annual funding.
Phuket Promise: Special Island Economic Zone
Not before time - What an eyesore these are!
Posted by Roick 0 Melbourne on January 8, 2009 19:56