OrBorJor promotes Phuket in UAE

PHUKET: A 22-member delegation from the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) have returned from the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, where for three days they promoted the delights of Phuket – and studied the way the city, famed for being duty-free, operates.

OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who headed the delegation, said that the Phuket booth got good feedback from visitors, though most residents of the United Arab Emirates were more familiar with Bangkok than Phuket.

She added that the OrBorJor is planning to transform the entire Kamala area into a “Halal Food Villa Town” near the end of July in order to woo Middle Easterners to the island.

As for Phuket’s stop-and-start efforts to establish itself as a duty-free shopping paradise, K. Anchalee said the OrBorJor‘s Lucky Complex project, now leased out to a private operator, should open around the end of this year.

It will operate as a duty-free shop until such time as the government sees fit to declare Phuket a duty-free island, she said.