New “hotel’ has little to offer tourists

PATONG BEACH: Although most Phuket residents and tourists visiting Patong are aware of the slum that has developed in the Patong Night Plaza (opposite Christin Massage on Rat-U-Thit Rd), few are familiar with the details of what transpires within. A website, https://www.hotelburma.com, has now been established to enlighten the curious. According to the website, the “Hotel Burma”, which it bills as “Phuket’s finest refugee camp”, houses about 150 Burmese workers and their children. It has no water, electricity or toilets, and guests can “take a crap” wherever they like. The web page, whose owners and authors are anonymous, invites visitors to contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) with any comments they might have on the squalor at Patong Night Plaza and, presumably, its effect on tourism.