Phuket tourism operators push for international convention centre

In a bid to elevate Phuket’s status as an exhibition hub, local tourism operators are urging for the rapid implementation of a long-stalled project for an international convention centre and a freeport city initiative. The urgency has arisen due to the impending enforcement of new environmental laws which may necessitate a redesign of the project.

The Health Ministry recently abandoned its plans for a traveller health centre on a 140-rai seaside plot in the Mai Khao subdistrict. This location was initially earmarked for Phuket’s first international convention and exhibition centre.

Thanet Tantipiriyakit, the president of the Phuket Tourist Association, disclosed that following objections to the traveller health centre, both public and private sectors prefer the land to be utilised for generating an economic impact for the entire province.

The tourism sector in Phuket has already tabled a proposal for the exhibition centre to the provincial Joint Public and Private Consultative Committee (JPPCC) and plans to present it to the Andaman JPPCC meeting in December.

Three alternatives are suggested in the proposal for the government’s consideration. These include a public-private partnership model enabling investment from a professional exhibition management company, delegating related authorities to oversee the project’s construction and management, or allowing the government to invest independently and granting operating rights to the private sector.

Imminent environmental laws, expected to restrict the construction of structures larger than 30,000 square metres in the area, could potentially influence the current exhibition hall’s conceptual design, which requires around 32,000 sq m of space. To adhere to the original plan, the project needs to be fast-tracked.

Freeport concept

Thanet lamented that despite Phuket being declared as one of Thailand’s 10 meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) cities, it remains the only province lacking an exhibition hall. He voiced support for the previous Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn’s suggestion to establish Phuket as a duty-free island to attract tourism expenditure.

Thanet proposed a slight modification to the idea, advocating for Phuket to become a free port province to bolster the island’s status as a marina hub. He reasoned that the concept of a duty-free town might not resonate with tourists as it did in the past. However, designating Phuket as a free port city could attract specific groups, especially the marina market, with four marinas already in existence and a fifth one slated to open soon, reported Bangkok Post.

The free port concept would encourage yacht manufacturers and owners to consider using the province as a hub. They can import vessels or machine parts to the province without the burden of taxes or complex customs procedures. This plan could be seamlessly integrated with the exhibition centre project, as Phuket could host large cruise and yacht trade shows.

The local industry stands to benefit from technology transfers from experts, and more job opportunities would be created if the province serves as a hub for yacht maintenance. Thanet asserted that the exhibition centre and free port policy could mutually enhance each other.

Event organisers and international vendors would choose Phuket if they could import products to showcase at trade shows without the hassle of taxes and complicated procedures.

Source: The Thaiger

 

Russians still biggest tourist group in Phuket, peak expected during holidays

Russians remain Phuket’s biggest tourist group, and the island resort’s tourism is expected to peak during the holidays, according to the president of the Southern Thai Hotels Association, Sueksit Suwannadissakun, who believes the peak of tourism High Season will be between December 24 to January 5.

About 57% of hotels in the island province reopened in October, jumping to 70% in November, according to Sueksit. He said the association expects that during Christmas and New Year, 80% of Phuket hotels will be opened. Sueksit told The Phuket Express…

“The top tourists are now Russians which is about 25% of total visitors, secondly followed by Indians at 12%, and finally Singaporeans and Australians at 6%. These four groups of tourists are almost half of the overall tourism market in Phuket.” 

Sueksit added that most other tourists in Phuket are Europeans coming to Thailand for the warm winter here.

In November, Phuket saw 55,097 Russian tourists arriving on its shores. The second largest tourist group in Phuket that month came from India, with 26,525 travellers, according to Phuket Immigration.

The recent swarm of Russian tourists in Thailand has taken the country’s tourism forces completely by surprise. Despite the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian tourism market has returned much quicker than expected, according to the president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) last month.

Chartered flights to Phuket and Pattaya are being filled by Russian tourists. Less than two weeks after Russian airlines made their triumphant return to Phuket, Aeroflot announced an increase in direct flights to the island. The flagship airline of Russia made known on November 12 that it would be adding 14 new flights a week from Russia to Phuket.

As of October 26, Thailand witnessed 7,349,843 international tourists arrive at its airports. According to the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Thailand is on course to attract around 11 million tourists this year.

Source - The Thaiger

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Christmas present to Phuket motorists: Patong Hill road to reopen

 Good news for motorists in Phuket, Patong Hill road is expected to fully reopen to all traffic on Christmas Day.

The road between Kathu and Patong was closed after it was hit by a landslide during a deluge of heavy rain in October. The road is only partially open at the moment but the Mayor of Kathu, Chai-anan Sutthikul, reported today that repairs to the road were almost finished, said Bangkok Post.

“The road’s foundation has been filled and strengthened and repair work is almost done.

“When completed, the road’s width will be increased by 7 metres in that section, making it safer, stronger and more durable.”

The mayor revealed he expected the 21 million baht project to be finished before December 24 and within the 45-day timeframe set in the contract.

“If there is no rain, the work could even be finished on December 20.”

The Provincial Electricity Authority’s Phuket office announced it will install new power poles and CCTV to monitor the repaired section of the road.

A survey on November 7 revealed that about 70,000 round trips were made on the hill road each day, about 35,000 each way.

A landslide caused the Kathu-Patong Road to close on October 19 causing chaos to motorists and travellers trying to reach Phuket Airport. Road workers were able to clean up and stabilise the roadway to allow motorbikes to pass in both directions over Patong Hill a week later on October 26.

Then on November 4, small cars were permitted to travel over Patong Hill before the road was fully reopened to vans and pickup trucks with restrictions.

The mayor said the two alternative routes to Patong beach – Go-kart in Kathu district to Chao Phor Sue shrine in Patong, and Wat Bang Thong in Kathu to Chao Phor Sue shrine – were not far from Patong but the roads were rather steep and were best used in times of emergency.

Chai-anan added that he is still in talks with the provincial electricity office about installing lighting along the two routes.

Source - The Thaiiger

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Entertainment SHUTDOWN is ‘likely’ to be extended

The government will not impose a national lockdown despite overseas concerns about the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but the closure of entertainment venues will likely be extended, the prime minister said on Thursday.
Prayut Chan-o-cha said a nationwide closure was unnecessary. The government would cope by continuing to test arriving travellers for the new variant.

“Harsh measures are not necessary. There are RT-PCR tests and quarantine is required pending test results,” he said.

The government needed to prioritise both public safety and the national economy. It was not easy to keep the balance. Under the circumstances, the government would delay its plan for antigen testing of arrivals instead of the RT-PCR tests, the prime minister said.

In the interests of public health, the government might also have to further delay the reopening of pubs, bars and karaoke shops, he said.

“We would like to wait and see for a month. In this matter, we must listen to doctors and health authorities,” Gen Prayut said.

“Enclosed venues where crowds gather and drink pose high risks. That will be put on hold. Assistance measures will be proposed to the cabinet soon,” the prime minister said.

When there is a new disease, there must be measures to cope with it, he added.

Gen Prayut confirmed that the government was tracing arrivals from southern Africa for Covid-19 tests, because Omicron infections were detected from that region.

He asked the public to inform the government if they know of the whereabouts of such people.

He said no Omicron case had been detected in Thailand to date. – Bangkok Post

Source - BangkokJack

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Thailand - Phuket’s hotels can now open. Someone forgot to tell the hotels.

Phuket is open. Sort of. And the hotels on the island are officially allowed to re-open but few are flinging open their doors anytime soon to welcome the hordes of tourists lining up to book a room. The holiday island is in a Catch 22 situation with the hotels waiting for the guests to return and potential visitors waiting until there are signs of life.

Although the authorities said hotels could re-open on June 1 they forgot to give hotels any advance notice so management could put all the many wheels in motion necessary to open a modern hotel.

A hotelier told TTR Weekly the first he knew of the lifting of restrictions was when he received a message on his phone saying the province had announced the island’s hotels could reopen.
“They gave no one any warning, but within 30 minutes of the text message on hotels reopening, the social security department sent out messages ending the monthly compensation payments for June.”

But opening up the hotels is just one small step to re-booting Phuket’s battered tourist industry.

What are the guidelines for quarantine, if any? Do guests require any specific documentation? Insurance? Which hotels are actually open? Who is co-ordinating the information? Do travellers get any information about these things when they make their bookings? How do travellers know the hotel’s open anyway?

And if travellers come to Phuket, then return to their province. will they be required to do 14 day quarantine, as required by some provinces?

For now, the only way you can get to Phuket is across the Sarisan Bridge, the only land link to the Thai mainland. The island’s marine piers are also open again but there are scant services running at the moment.

And the airport?

There has been no official announcement about the re-opening of Phuket International Airport, even for domestic services. The island’s provincial authorities applied to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand last week to re-open the airport but there has been no official response. Many other airports have now re-opened around Thailand to limited domestic flights but the success of the domestic flights reboot has been sketchy with schedules constantly changing as airlines battle with the ‘new normal’. Passengers are also describing the whole process as a “hassle’ with longer times needed to get into the airport, through check-in, requirements for social distancing and the completely impersonal flight experience with flight crews dressed up like ICU staff.

But there are signs of life. Maybe Thai AirAsia, Nok Air and Vietjet Air know something the rest of us don’t. All three have bookings available, at least between Phuket and Bangkok, from June 16. Fares range from 1,100 up to 1,700 in the week after June 16, one way. But if you’re rushing to buy a ticket, on or off the island, be aware that there is no official green light for a resumption of flights, as of today.

International flights into Thailand are banned up to at least the end of June with, again, no official mention of what will happen after that. Residents of which countries will be allowed to fly in? What restrictions and conditions will be imposed? And which airlines are going to be flying anyway?

The CAAT has extended the ban on international flights twice already.

The Thai government said last month that they were going to use June as the month to clear a lot of the chartered Thai citizen repatriation flights. That the only new cases of Covid-19 in Thailand over the past 2 weeks have been returning citizens, all from Middle East countries, will be a niggling concern for authorities as they figure out how, or when, to re-open international borders.

Back to Phuket…

Even if the hotels are re-opening, where will these magic travellers be coming from. The biggest feeder market, weekenders from Bangkok, will be going to Pattaya or Hua Hin. They’re unlikely to take a 12 hour drive to Phuket, no matter how cheap the hotels, or pretty the beaches. So as long as Thailand is closed to international tourists, and the airport’s sealed off from international travel, the prospects for Phuket’s hotel industry remain extremely limited.

Even if some domestic tourism provides a kick-start to the island’s tourist economy, what will they do when they’re here? All the hot spots are ‘cold’, there are few tours that are considering re-starting for now and it’s wet season anyway.

Speaking to the GM of three hotels on the island, he told The Thaiger that they’re not re-opening until October, at the earliest.

“There are plenty of difficult months ahead with our old staff mostly laid off. When we re-open, many of the staff will be new. The whole things a mess.”

Any bets on June 16 for a re-opening of Phuket Airport to domestic flights?

Source - The Thaiger

Een klein #Bangkok-verhaal, voordat de rode lichten dimden

No Asian government will admit how much its economy depends on the sex industry, and perhaps ironically, it is the country that until recently had the most open sex trade in the region that has been one of the most guilty of obvious denialism.

As Asia Times has reported, the Covid-19 panic has closed the doors on bars, “karaoke” joints, massage parlors, brothels, and everything from the sleaziest watering holes to the swankiest nightclubs all over Asia.

As the disease itself, with the exception of a few small pockets, has infected relatively tiny numbers of people in this region, it is the fear-inspired response to the coronavirus that has caused the most damage, and as with all prohibition campaigns, “lockdowns” have hit all sources of entertainment, legitimate and otherwise, especially hard.

And that has been devastating for Thailand.

While it is true that Thailand has been successful in diversifying its tourism industry over the years, making the country more attractive to families and other “moral” travelers – and indeed, the manufacturing sector overtook tourism long ago as the main contributor to the economy – the sex trade has remained very important to national and regional GDPs.

In Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and other centers the availability of women, men, and everything in between “on the game” is legendary.

Or it was. But over the past few months a combination of government measures, some sensible and others less so, have dimmed the red lights all over the country, and the tens of thousands of people, many from rural areas, who depended on the sex industry have left the former hotspots, now chilled into stagnation.

Well, isn’t that a good thing, you ask? Isn’t it better for the nation’s youth to find meaningful, rewarding, clean jobs instead of selling their bodies for a quick baht, risking disease, abuse, and worse?

Perhaps. But leaving aside the evidence that Thailand has for the most part brought the worst elements of the sex trade – human trafficking, child exploitation, the spread of STDs – under control, decent jobs are not easy to find, especially for the unskilled. And they are very likely to get even more scarce as manufacturers, especially in the automotive sector, scale back just as the labor pool scales up.

But apart from the boring numbers, GDP forecasts and jobless figure, the merits of the sex industry, or lack of them, are difficult to analyze objectively, because very few of us can distance ourselves from our personal prejudices, religious and/or moral values, and cultural norms. That is especially so when examining a mysterious, exotic, alien country, which for most Westerners Thailand is.

In that light, the following anecdote – based on a true story, told by someone who would prefer to remain anonymous – might, well, shed some light.

It was a bar much like hundreds, maybe thousands, of others in pre-pandemic Bangkok. Small and unremarkable, it was nonetheless popular with some older expats, as the bar girls didn’t pester the customers much for “bar fines” (the standard pimping fee, which ran from the equivalent of US$10 and up), and the DJ played old rock instead of techno-crap.

One day a young woman, apparently a denizen of the place (either a bar girl or waitress, not that there was much difference – in places like this, most were “available,” often including the cashier and sometimes the manager), entered with a little girl in tow. The child was apparently her daughter, and as it was not a school day, Mom was off work to care for her. They brought in with them a birthday cake, complete with seven candles.

The candles were lit, everyone gathered around, and the DJ put on a rock version of “Happy Birthday.”

To moral, law-abiding Westerners, it might seem inappropriate to bring a seven-year-old into such a Den of Ill Repute, but Bangkok, despite its latter-day status as a world city, is still firmly in the East. In this environment, it was just a mom giving her kid a birthday treat, and sharing it with friends in her place of business.

A place of business in a country that has one of the highest income disparities in Asia, and where the minimum wage is $10 a day.

A place of business, that is, where this young mother and thousands like her knew they could make more from a quick roll in the hay with a Westerner taking a respite from his moral, law-abiding, incorruptible homeland than she could make in a week cleaning rooms and making beds at his four-star hotel. And maybe use some of that money to give her kid opportunities that were never given to her in her youth.

Back then, before all we heard about was “social distancing” and “PPEs” and horror tales about mass graves, “the game” was so open and prevalent in Thailand that it was more difficult than in the moral West to ignore the question: Why is it that while we honor Wall Street tycoons, usurers, corporate-bought politicians and exploitative employers, we sneer at people, mostly women, who earn their living from giving people pleasure?

People, mostly women, who like the rest of us want nothing more than to care for their families, the very old and the very young especially, and who often do so at great personal risk because they are denied the police and legal protections we moral folk take for granted?

Regardless of whether or not the old raunchy side of Thailand returns to “normal,” those aren’t questions that can be answered, not yet. To attempt to do so would raise too many other questions about the nature of law, of morality, and – scariest of all – of sex.

The little girl of this anecdote will have many more birthdays before any society acquires the courage to take on that kind of self-examination.

Source - Pattaya One News

Phuket airport to remain closed following CAAT U-Turn

UPDATE:

In a surprise reversal, The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has announced the postponement of the reopening of Phuket International Airport, indefinitely. Just yesterday they announced that the provincial airport was to re-open from tomorrow morning.

Although Phuket has gone 13 days with no new Covid 19 infections, it was still considered a risk area that needs to be monitored to stop the spread of the disease to other provinces.

“At the recommendation of the CCSA, the airport is to remain closed until further notice.”

“Although Phuket is able to effectively control and stop the spread of the Covid-19, the situation is still considered a risk that must be monitored to ensure that measures stop the spread of the disease to other areas and prevent the disease from spreading again in the Phuket area.”

Phuket International Airport was closed on April 3, with a ban on all flights except government and military aircraft, and emergency landings.Scheduled international flights into and out of Thailand remained banned until at least May 31.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Thailand’s Civil Aviation Authority has signed an order which will allow the Phuket International Airport to re-open from the morning of Saturday, May 16, less than two days away. Two days ago officials from the local provincial hall participated in an inspection of all the changes and preparations made to cater for passenger travel in the Covid era.

The Phuket International Airport is one of the last major airports to re-open to passenger traffic and commercial flights. The CAAT ordered the airport closed on April 3 to restrict air travel as health authorities nationwide battled to contain the spread of the virus at the time.

The order says that people arriving in Phuket from other provinces will be required to fill in an a form describing their travel history, particularly recently and information about where they are staying whilst on the island. At this stage the opening of the airport is only to limited domestic flights.

“All people leaving the island must register their health condition on the AOT Airports app.”

A ban remains in force for international flights at least until May 31 and a possibility that it could be extended another 15 days.

For land departures there has been a requirement for Phuket people, arriving in some provinces, to adhere to a 14 day quarantine. This order from the CAAT does not mention that requirement. We will post more information when it becomes available.

Currently land departures are required to have a fit-to-travel document saying that they have been in self-quarantine for 14 days before their date of travel. That has not been specified for air travel at this stage.

3 airlines have already notified the PIA of their plans to resume limited domestic passenger services in and out of Phuket, at one flight a day, according to the governor. Other domestic airports have been opened up around the country for limited services.

Provincial authorities also agreed yesterday to ask the Interior Ministry to allow reopening of all sea and road links from Saturday. No approval has been given at this stage.

Aircraft are also requiring specific seating to avoid people sitting next to each other and an insistence that passengers must wear masks. There is also no food and beverage services allowed on domestic services at this stage and travellers are urged to arrive at the airport 3 hours before their flight for additional check in procedures.

Source - The Thaiger

#Thailand - Limiting tourists on the most popular islands

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation held a meeting at the Pearl Hotel on Phuket on Tuesday to discuss the excessive numbers of tourists visiting the famous islands and bays.

Songtham Suksawang, chief of the DNP’s National Parks Office, who chaired the meeting, said that the amount of tourists in marine national parks was directly affecting the environment.

“Those national parks, especially marine national parks, are suffering from an oversupply of visitors. There are many problems such as oil from boats, rubbish and the effect on the local lifestyle on the islands, which is difficult to rehabilitate in the short term. They [meeting participants] discussed rearranging of the marine national parks to better meet the demand, but by limiting supply and providing a more sustainable solution,” he said.

“There will be a study on the limiting of tourism. Some locations have already had these studies done. After sending the officers to check, we found that there’s a specific period of time when the islands are overcrowded, which is 11am to 2pm when the tourists come onshore to rest and have lunch. There are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 people visiting some of the islands each day,” he added.

The DNP has plans for a solution on the Similan Islands by spreading tourists around the other islands, as Island Four and Island Eight are way too overcrowded.

“We will spread tourists to other islands, apart from Islands Four and Eight, by installing piers to connect them. They will be floating piers to avoid disturbing the corals. There will be a floating centre, where tourists can rest in front of the island, as well.''

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 “The purchasing process of the centres will be completed by March 31. We will start this project near the islands that are highly overcrowded, such as Similan, Phi Phi and in Phang Nga Bay. The limitation of tourists according to the time of the day will also follow after the study is done,” Songtham explained.

  “The limiting of tourists and an increase in customer fees are possible if the environment continues to be damaged too much from tourism,” he pointed out.

The DNP will also create an e-ticket to enter the islands, which will possibly start with the Similans, Phi Phi and Phang Nga Bay, as this would also help solve the issue of transparency in national park management, the National Parks Office chief said.

For security, he said that he had approved budgets for ambulance and rescue boats and was currently coordinating with the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand to provide assistance to tourists in the marine national park area.

In case of emergency, the 1669 hotline is also available 24/7.

Source - TheNation

 

Tonne of trash collected in clean-up at Hei Island in #Phuket

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About a tonne of trash was collected during a beach clean-up at Hei Island (Coral Island) in Phuket yesterday.

More than a 100 people, including students from Prince of Songkla University’s Phuket campus, volunteer divers, local vendors and operators, and company workers participated in the morning initiative.

The move involved collecting trash both on the beach and underwater. Among the items collected were fishing nets, glass bottles and rubber tyres.

“We are doing business on Hei island, so this effort is our way of saying ‘thank you’. Cleaning up the island will not only help preserve marine life, but also play a big part in improving tourism,” said Suriya Thamchu, chairman of Nonthasak Marine Co Ltd, which organised the clean-up.

 “We received positive feedback so we plan to do this again in the near future,” he said.

Source - TheNation 

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“We received positive feedback so we plan to do this again in the near future,” he said. 

#Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2015 October 15 – 23

October 15 – 23, 2015 at Kathu & Cherng Talay Shrines

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colourful event held over a nine-day period in October, celebrating the Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.

Though the origins of the festival are unclear, it is commonly thought that the festival was bought to Phuket by a wandering Chinese opera group who fell ill with malaria while performing on the island.

They decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine Emperor Gods to ensure purification of the mind and body. To everyone’s amazement the opera group made a complete recovery. The people celebrated by holding a festival that was meant to honour the gods as well as express the people’s happiness at surviving what was, in the 19th century, a fatal illness. Subsequently the festival has grown and developed into a spectacular yearly event that is attended by thousands with participants flying in from China and other Asian destinations.

Source: Inspire Phuket 

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Haze hits Phuket tourism

Thailand offers to help Indonesia as annual fires cause flight delays

THE PROLONGED haze is hitting Phuket's tourism hard, with tourist operators on the island complaining about flight delays and holiday cancellations.

The problem stems from agricultural fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia.

Foreign Affairs Ministry deputy permanent secretary Vitavas Srivihok met with Indonesian Ambassador Lutfi Rauf yesterday to discuss the issue. 

Vitavas said Lutfi said he was sorry and explained the Indonesian government was now taking harsh legal action against those behind the fires.

"During the meeting we told the ambassador that Thailand is ready to provide assistance," he said.

Lutfi said the Indonesian government was trying its best to extinguish the fires.

"The Indonesian authorities are applying many measures to put out the fire as our first priority," the ambassador said. 

"We have been irrigating water to the burning peatland, making artificial rain and also water bombing the fire from above. More than 8,000 military personnel were called to the fire-extinguish operation."

He said there were 184 fire cases and 223 individuals and companies are involved in them, with 78 suspects detained.

"We are working with international partners especially within the Asean framework to relieve the haze situation," he said. 

"We have already received some help from Malaysia and Singapore, but we need to make sure that the help from outside meets the needs on the field, otherwise the help will be useless." He said Thailand offered help Indonesia and asked what help it needed.

The Indonesian government was very appreciate of the offer and he would pass it on to Jakarta.

Lutfi said Indonesian authorities were seeking more and bigger aircraft to carry out the water bombing. The aircraft should be able to carry more than 25 tons of water.

At least three flights from Phuket to Bangkok were delayed yesterday morning due to the thick haze that affected visibility at Phuket International Airport.

All the flights were scheduled to depart Phuket before 8.20am, said an airport officer who joined an emergency meeting chaired by the provincial governor. The affected carriers were Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia and Thai Airways International.

The haze also affected a Silk Air international flight and a Jet Star international flight, with both having to circle the airport two extra times before being allowed to land.

Bangkok Airways has advised its passengers to contact its call centre on 1771 to check the status of flights especially those flights departing the South of Thailand and travelling to the South.

At 8am yesterday, an air-quality check showed the amount of particulate matter up to 10 microns in size had reached 210 micrograms in the Phuket city municipal area. The safe limit is 120 micrograms. 

Kannapat Wongtikied, who runs the Phuket Sunny Hostel in Muang district, said about 20 per cent of room reservations had been cancelled in the wake of the haze.

"Several guests here have also cancelled their one-day trip-tour package. My business income has been falling by about 60 per cent," she said. She said some guests cut short their stay.

"One couple initially booked seven nights but they left for Myanmar after just two nights because of the haze," Kannapat said.

Auraiwan Phuthong, who runs the Phong Phang restaurant in the same district, said she handed out masks to her employees and her customers to help them cope with the haze.

"The number of customers has significantly dwindled. My income has dropped by about 30 per cent already," she said.

Phuket resident Phongpol Ratchapol said he wore a facial mask when outside, while locals plan to rally in front of the Phuket City Hall today and lodge a protest letter against the Indonesian government.

Suratin Lian-udom, a former mayor of Tambon Rassada Municipality, will reportedly lead the rally.

Source: The Nation

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