Beach chair leniency ends in Phuket (video)

PHUKET: Recent leniency concerning beach loungers on Patong Beach has come to an end to prevent further confusion, Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup has told the Phuket Gazette.

The mayor was originally allowing beachgoers to bring onto the beach their own smaller, collapsible sun loungers, as well as other chairs, during the three-month beach-management trial run (stories here and here).

“There wasn’t a strict rule established on what kind of beach chairs might be allowed, so right now we

will just prohibit all beach chairs – no matter how big or small,” Ms Chalermluck said. “However, tourists are still welcome to use beach mats.”

The move to do away with any compromises on chairs follows a group of foreigners’ beach gear being mistakenly seized by police (story here) and the governor’s demand that the beach rules be strictly adhered to during the trial period.

The seizure of the tourists’ belongings to use while enjoying the beach sparked an angry response.

“I am not going to carry a chair to the beach every day,’ US expat Jim Newall told Phuket Today (see video).

“If the government wants to make it inconvenient, they we’ll go to a different country. I have lived in Patong for five years… I love it here.

“But now we have no lounge chairs, now we have no umbrellas – the beach is a mess,” he said. “The decision to take those away destroyed the community of the beach. Now there is no community; it’s a mess.

“And the police just come and take away the chairs? Why? They’re just being difficult. Many people are angry, and many people will just go to Vietnam,” he said.

— Voratuss Intasee