Business registrations soared in 1999

PHUKET TOWN: Business confidence soared in Phuket last year, with the number of companies registering in the province leaping by more than 50% compared with 1998, and comfortably exceeding even the pre-Asian-Crisis levels of 1996. Figures compiled by the Phuket Commercial Registration Office show 505 limited companies were registered last year, compared with 332 in the previous year, 311 in 1997 and 445 in 1996. All but 5% of the new companies are in the travel industry. Wirachai Tantiwatthanawanlop, chief of the Registration Office, told the Gazette that he expects the trend this year to be the same, with an even greater number of registrations, the vast majority of them being once again in the travel industry. In addition to the improved economic situation in Thailand – especially in Phuket – political uncertainty in neighboring countries, particularly Indonesia, appears to have prompted increased confidence in the island’s tourism potential. The Registration Office also recorded the closure of 49 limited companies, down from 66 in 1998, a fall of 26%.