Business

Phuket Business: White-collared workers to gain from boom

Published

9 years ago

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Phuket Business: White-collared workers to gain from boom | The Thaiger

PHUKET: The local work force and overall economy of Phuket stand to benefit from the ensuing boom in real estate, an executive of a major real estate developer has said.

Speaking exclusively with the Phuket Gazette, Suriya Wannabuit, Executive Vice President of the Project Management and Marketing Department of Sansiri Pcl, shared his thoughts about the local economy.

“Locals don’t tend to seek work in the construction sector. But that’s not to say I would turn them away if they wanted to,” he said.

“However, Phuket’s resident workforce tends to be more oriented towards Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). That said, one cannot underestimate the high ‘multiplier effect’ that real estate has on the job market, which is higher than other industries,” he elaborates.

Starting with lending at banks, the economic benefits go on to branch out well beyond the construction site, he said.

“The ‘k-factor’ encompasses labor recruitment, contracting, consultancy, material sourcing, transport and ultimately an increased demand for more white collar jobs. More cash flow means more jobs, which in turn leads to increased consumer spending power,” he explained.

Like other provinces, Phuket has advantages and disadvantages, but Mr Suriya believes that its strengths provide an ideal platform for stable economic growth.

“Phuket is special because its economy is less dependent on the overall economy of Thailand. Capital from around the world flows into the province directly, not just through domestic channels. When tourism flourishes on the global scale, Phuket’s service sector thrives. And as long as negative impacts are minimized on the local economy, then the service and labor sectors will continue on the upward trend,” he explained.

“A stable economy will continue to draw more people to Phuket for employment. This particular segment of young working class people is growing, and many of Sansiri’s projects have been designed with this segment in mind,” he added.

He went on to address other limitations of Phuket. “One of the biggest hurdles developers face here is the limited, and thus soaring, price of land. In addition to limited land, local [blue collar] labor and materials are in shortage and thus are mostly imported from elsewhere. This causes base costs to be higher here than other places, such as Bangkok,” he said.

Indeed, all these factors make it difficult for most firms to achieve a favorable turnover in Phuket. Therefore, any successful operation requires close attention to details.

This is one specialty of Sansiri – small details.

“I’d prefer to let our reputation and product speak for themselves. Those who are familiar with our previous projects can attest to the superior quality. Time will tell, and I’m confident that by the end of this year, Sansiri will be able to live up to its name in Phuket,” he said.

Sansiri is launching three new projects in Phuket this year, with a combined value of 2 billion baht.

— Steven Layne

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News Categories: Business

Business

Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

Published

5 days ago

Saturday, February 27, 2021

The Thaiger

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?

The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.

The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.

At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.

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Business

The social media giants in battle with ‘old’ media and world governments | VIDEO

Published

5 days ago

Friday, February 26, 2021

The Thaiger

“The rules signal greater willingness by countries around the world to rein in big tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter that the governments fear have become too powerful with little accountability.”

India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social.

The companies are also being made to publish a compliance report each month with details about how many complaints they’ve received and the action they took.

They’ll also be required to remove ‘some’ types of content including “full or partial nudity,” any “sexual act” or “impersonations including morphed images”

The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told.

The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.

Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.

Business

Turbulence ahead for Thailand’s aviation industry | VIDEO

Published

2 weeks ago

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

The Thaiger

When the airlines, in particular, were asking the government to put their hands in their pockets for some relief funding in August last year, it was genuinely thought that international tourists would be coming back for the high season in December and January. At the very least local tourists and expats would head back to the skies over the traditional holiday break. And surely the Chinese would be back for Chinese New Year?

As we know now, none of that happened. A resurge in cases started just south of Bangkok on December 20 last year, just before Christmas, kicking off another round of restrictions, pretty much killing off any possibility of a high season ‘bump’ for the tourist industry. Airlines slashed flights from their schedule, and hotels, which had dusted off their reception desks for the surge of tourists, shut their doors again.

Domestically, the hotel business saw 6 million room nights in the government’s latest stimulus campaign fully redeemed. But the air ticket quota of 2 million seats still has over 1.3 million seats unused. Local tourists mostly skipped flights and opted for destinations within driving distance of their homes.

As for international tourism… well that still seems months or years away, even now.

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