The high demand of foreign tourists for vacations on the main Thai island of Phuket can lead to big problems for this resort. “Carmageddon is coming to Phuket,” say experts at C9 Hotelworks. It’s not a hurricane or a typhoon, and it’s not a natural disaster in general, but it could threaten the island’s long-term economic growth.
The Thai press reveals the essence of the Phuket Karmageddon as follows. From the outside, things are looking great: Phuket hotels have shown promising growth in the first half of 2023, with occupancy up to 70% and international and domestic flights to the island already up 75% compared to the total number of flights in 2022. It should be noted that China, India, and Russia are leading in terms of the number of arriving tourists, followed by Australia and Kazakhstan. Hoteliers, inspired by success, raise prices, and so far so good…
However, problems are already visible. Some of them are already familiar in other directions. “While business has returned to normal for the majority of Phuket’s more than 2,000 registered accommodation facilities, covering 106,000 rooms, hotel owners and operators have begun to face persistent staff shortages,” the experts said.
Also, according to them, there is growing concern about the crumbling infrastructure of the resort island. “The surge in the number of full- and part-time residents, driven by a surge in tourism, an overheated real estate market, and a massive resurgence in construction activity, has created massive traffic problems that threaten long-term economic growth.
In the high season of 2023/2024, most likely, a “Carmageddon” scenario will occur – a traffic jam, which will affect both the demand of tourists and the attitude of local residents to tourism. The absolute inability to translate transport infrastructure projects from paper to reality over the past decade will have long-term consequences,” C9 Hotelworks representatives say. They cite the Patong-Kathu Tunnel, the Inter-Island Expressway and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) as key projects that never came to fruition. According to them, the state sector has no funding opportunities
A public sector approach to tourism based on a “litany of holes” simply will not work in the mature international destination that Phuket has become. In nearly two decades, the island’s private sector has outgrown the province’s aging infrastructure, and what is desperately needed is a master plan and strategy that can accelerate the recovery of weak highway infrastructure,” they add.