PHUKET: Phuket in recent months has suffered a spate of public protests against Russians operating tour services here, including mob action that saw one tour operator in Bang Tao being ordered to close (story here).

That minor uprising followed a blockade on the Karon beachfront road by hundreds of tuk-tuk and taxi drivers protesting tour counters along Phuket’s southwest coast that hired Russians to sell tour services and provided taxi services at prices that undercut local drivers (story here).

In light of the staggering number of tourists arriving from Russia – Phuket’s second-largest and still growing tourist sector – the latest Phuket Gazette online readers’ poll asks “Do you think the tourism infrastructure on the island – including facilities and qualified staff – is developed enough to support the volume of inbound Russians?”

Responses available in the poll are:

• Yes – There are already enough businesses and qualified staff to serve the number of Russian tourists coming to Phuket

• Facilities yes, staff no – there are already enough businesses in Phuket to serve the number of Russian tourists coming, but not enough qualified staff who speak Russian available on the island

• No – Phuket needs more businesses and staff trained specifically to meet the needs of such a large number of tourists from a single source market

• It doesn’t matter – very little of the money from inbound Russian tourists actually reaches the pockets of local residents in Phuket

• No opinion

To have your say in this poll, click here.

If you have already voted and want to check the latest results, click here.

To view the results of our previous poll, asking “Should owners of all new buildings be required to provide parking spaces as a requirement for issuance of a building permit?”, click here.

Have an idea for a poll? Contact us with your suggestions at polls@phuketgazette.net

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