Boom in business registrations

PHUKET: The latest statistics on business registrations show that business people on the island are not nearly as pessimistic as might be thought, given the global downturn and the expected effects of the September 11 atrocities. In fact, the numbers from the Phuket Commercial Registration Office (CRO) show, there has been an increase in new business registrations. Veerachai Tantiwathanavallop, Director of the CRO, said that during the past fiscal year (which ended on September 30) 918 new businesses were registered, of which 664 were limited companies and 254 were partnerships. This is a 9.5% rise on the 838 new business registrations in 1999/2000, which consisted of 621 limited companies and 217 partnerships. In 2000/2001, 114 limited companies and 28 partnerships were de-registered, leaving a net gain of 776 businesses. Most of the de-registered companies were firms that had failed. “They were mainly shops or stores,” said K. Veerachai. “Some of them were tourism companies, mostly tour operators. However, among the new registrations there are also many new tour operators.” The top three categories for new registrations were tourism and tourism-related businesses; real estate businesses; and tailoring businesses. The lion’s share of investment has gone into Patong, K. Veerachai said, followed by Kata and Karon. Most of the new businesses in these areas are directly involved in tourism. Kamala follows, though in this case, most of the money is going into the property industry. Phuket’s ranking in terms of attracting investment remains good. “Phuket is the No 1 province in the south for investment. It’s a gold mine and everybody wants to come and dig up that gold. Second in the south is Songkhla, followed by Surat Thani and Nakhon Sri Thammarat. “In national terms, Phuket is one of the top 10 provinces. I can’t say specifically where it ranks, because [all the national statistics] are not yet finalized, but it’s probably somewhere around fifth to seventh,” said K. Veerachai. Thanks to the boom in new companies, the CRO has been able to collect about 19 million baht in registration fees in the year to end-September.