[SEAJ]

Originally Posted by kittosoft

The so call crackdown is making the place worse.... no proper planning, thainess in the crackdown etc...

I'm not quite sure about this.

Phuket's attraction as a tourist destination lies in its natural beauty and the provision of various services and facilities to cater to visitor activities. These activities have been blighted for too long by the Mafia stranglehold on them - to the detriment of the Phuket tourist industry as a whole - and IMHO, the army does now SEEM intent on eradicating these really atrocious practices which has turned too many visitors totally off.

The extortionate beach chair rentals, the totally illegal and ramshackle huts/restaurants/massage/drinks/water sport equipment rental etc on public land/beaches that's such an eyesore on an otherwise fabulous natural setting, the strong arm extortionate practices by the Jet-ski operators and of course the organized gang activities of the Taxi/Tuk-Tuk operators - I THINK that the army are moving quite efficiently against them. These are some of the things they need to do in Phuket if they want to restore the lustre of the Pearl of the Andaman.

On a more practical/realistic level, revenue from these very lucrative businesses have been going to too few players for too long and it was high-time that a shift occurs. The only question is if this shift is to "other hands/players" or to HOPEFULLY BENEFIT ALL the people of Phuket and Thailand.

I can only hope/only time will tell.

SEAJ