Deputy PM to open Chalong Pier

PHUKET: Deputy Prime Minister Pongpol Adireksarn is to attend the official opening ceremony of the Chalong Pier on Friday. After that event, which gets under way at 10 am, K. Pongpol and his entourage will board a Fisheries Department boat for an inspection trip to the Phi Phi Islands. At 8:30 pm, the party will begin a tour of Patong for a firsthand view of potential problems for Phuket’s tourism. Over the weekend, K. Pongpol will chair a workshop, at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, which will be attended by nearly 90 chiefs of departments that deal with tourism. Announcing the Deputy PM’s program, the Director of the local office of the TAT, Anupharp Thirarath, said, “We haven’t been able to solve all of the problems that we’ve experienced with tourism over the past 30 years. Not all of them arise out of tourism itself. Some are caused by the way each department deals with them.” The workshop will run all day Saturday, starting at 9 am, and from 9 am to 11 am on Sunday.