New beach rules now standard throughout Phuket, says Governor

PHUKET: The trial rule of restricting vendors to only 10 per cent of the beach is to be rolled out at all beaches in Phuket, Governor Nisit Jansomwong has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette.

“Local administrations will remain responsible for regulating and enforcing the new rules [story here], which include no sun loungers at any beaches,” he added.

“The local administration for every beach in Phuket will submit their own detailed plans as to where vendors may operate at beaches in their respective jurisdictions, to ensure they comply with the 10-percent rule.

“I have also suggested that signs in four languages – Thai, English, Chinese and Russian – be installed at every beach to explain the rules to tourists.”

Governor Nisit noted that it may be a tough task ensuring that beach vendors comply with the new rules.

“The rules currently on trial are not the best for everyone, and I am aware that some vendors keep trying to break them,” he said.

“We are trying to change what they have been doing for 30 years. It will take time to adjust and for us to come to the same understanding.

“I will leave it to local officials, including police, to enforce – and I have tasked the three Phuket vice governors to each look after one district.”

Governor Nisit confirmed that not all people who worked as beach vendors would return to the sands.

“We are trying our best to balance demand from tourists for beach vendors’ services and all the old vendors wanting their jobs back, but the most important thing is to return the beaches to the public,” he said.

Governor Nisit warned that any local officials caught intentionally allowing breaches of the rules to occur in their areas would be charged with failing to perform their duties.

The penalty for officials found guilty of neglecting their duties is imprisonment of one to 10 years, a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 baht, or both, he noted.

The warning follows a special police investigation last year uncovering a system by which beach vendors sold off their rights to work on the sands to third parties in a scheme that raked in more than a billion baht (story here).

Governor Nisit stressed that tourists could rent or bring their own umbrellas to the beach and sit wherever they wanted on the sands.

“Umbrella vendors can help tourists set up an umbrella for them in the 10-percent area, but the umbrella must be removed as soon as the tourists leave,” he said.

“No area on any beach in Phuket can be used by any vendor as their own, and no equipment is to be left on the beaches overnight.”

— Chutharat Plerin