PHUKET: Sixteen ambassadors from Europe plus two senior representatives will gather on Phuket next week as local officials are being warned to sort out Phuket's tourism-threatening rip-offs and corruption.

Phuket Governor Maitree Intrusud will be able to tell the visitors that Phuket has a new sister city in Nice, France. The ambassadors may not be overly impressed.

What they will be seeking is what Chinese Ambassador Guan Mu demanded last week: an end to corruption among police and Immigration officials on Phuket and a safer, more honest Phuket.

Briefings to be delivered to the ambassadors on June 14 before the governor pays a coutesy call are likely to include damning reports noting that the ''duty of care'' tourists expect is sometimes hard to find.

Ambassador Guan Mu was especially scathing about the Tourist Police, who recently tried to dissuade a young Chinese tourist when she claimed that she had been sexually molested by a Phuket taxi driver.

Of the Tourist Police hotline, 1155, the ambassador said: ''It's no good. 1155 doesn't work. You need to improve it immediately. Sometimes people who answer can't speak English. Sometimes people can't speak Chinese. Sometimes the call is not picked up. That's no use at all.''

He said that Chinese tourists with a mobile telephone received an sms on arrival on Phuket about the 1155 hotline and other information they needed: ''But if they have a problem, it doesn't work.''

He was also scathing about a brochure produced by the Patong Police (''Your First Friend'') in which the message had been translated into Chinese using Google Translate and was unintelligible.

He said - as Phuketwan has noted over and over again - that tourists need to be warned constantly about the dangers on Phuket.

This is especially true of Chinese visitors who have never been to a beach before. The high proportion of drownings among Chinese indicate boatboys and tour guides need to prioritise safety at sea as well.

''You have to warn guests,'' the ambassador said. ''They don't understand what the red flags mean. Immigration should warn them at the airport, resorts should warn them when they check in, lifeguards should warn them.

''You should warn them constantly from the time they set foot on Phuket.''

Claims that Immigration ''taxes'' tourists who arrive on Phuket in the early morning and the shoddy treatment of a French couple who were wrongly arrested and punished for their honesty are likely to be fresh in the minds of Europe's ambassadors.

If Phuket's police wish to prove they are not corrupt, then greater transparency is required. The case involving two drunken Aussies who were beaten up in Patong went for police ''mediation'' and no more information was provided to Phuket journalists.

The case involving what could have been a botched murder attempt on a Malaysian royal also vanished from sight after blatant interference from Malaysian high-ups.

The European ambassadors are likely to be told precisely what happens when cases like these and others disappear from sight.

Last week, China's ambassador warned that Phuket has to clean up its reputation or the flow of Chinese tourists will stop. Next week, Europe's powerful lineup from 18 countries is likely to be almost as blunt.

His Excellency Guan Mu suggested that if Phuket insists on having big, ugly billboards, then quite a few of them should actually contain warnings to tourists about dangers on Phuket.

Until September last year, Phuket's honorary consuls met regularly with Governor Maitree's predecessors and were able to talk openly and honestly with other Phuket officials about Phuket's problems from the point of view of tourists and expat residents.

In the nine months without meetings, there have been few reminders to Phuket officials about the need for proper care of the visitors who drive Phuket's prosperous economy.

The governor is likely to be asked what happened to those honorary consuls' meetings, and - probably in private - why so many outstanding problems on Phuket have yet to be solved.

It's time Phuket found the answers.

Confirmed as attending next week's two-day seminar are:

Mr M. Michielsen, Ambassador of Belgium; Mr Vitezslav Grepl, Ambassador Czech Republic; Mr Mikael Hemniti Winther, Ambassador of Denmark Ms Sirpa Maenpaa, Ambassador of Finland; Mr Thierry Viteau, Ambassador of France; Dr Ingo Winkelmann, Charge d'affaires a.i., Embassy of Germany; Mr Denes Tomaj, Ambassador of Hungary; Mr Michelangelo Pipan, Ambassador of Italy; Mr Marc Thill, Ambassador of Luxembourg; Mr Henk Cor van der Kwast, Deputy Head of Mission, The Royal Netherlands Embassy; Mr Jerzy Bayer, Ambassador of Poland; Mr Luis Barreira de Sousa, Ambassador of Portugal; Mr Gruia Jacota, Ambassador of Romania; Dr Vladimir Halgas, Ambassador of Slovak Republic; Ms Maria Adanja, Ambassador of Slovenia; Ms Maria del Carmen Moreno Raymundo, Ambassador of Spain; Mr Mark Kent, British Ambassador; Mr David Lipman, EU Ambassador.