Wanted: Phuket home for Chinese Consulate

PHUKET: Unable to find a suitable property for the new Chinese Consulate in Phuket, officials from the Chinese embassy sought advice from Phuket Vice Governor Sommai Prijasilpa on Thursday.

“We will certainly have a consulate in Phuket, and it will be open as soon as possible,” said Vice-Consul Wang Huijian, who will head the new consular office.

“We have four staff in Phuket ready to start work, but we have yet to find a suitable location for our office.”

Ms Wang explained that her team inspected a prospective site inside Central Festival Phuket last week.

“I think we want something more private, in or near the center of Phuket Town,” she said.

“The consulate should be near the government offices [in Phuket Town]. It will have high security, occupy about 300 square meters and must be easy for people to visit.”

Considering the difficulty her team is having in finding an appropriate permanent location, Vice-Consul Wang said she is considering renting an office as a temporary site.

“We must open a consulate in Phuket. The number of Chinese tourists visiting here increased to about one million people last year,” she said.

Vice Governor Sommai offered to help find a practical location.

She also called on Ms Wang to encourage Chinese tour operators to send “higher quality” tourists.

The Thai and Chinese governments launched a joint campaign last year to improve the “quality” of tourists visiting from China.

The campaign resulted in the Chinese government enforcing new regulations from October 1 that affected outbound leisure traffic, limiting the number of outbound tourists overall and eliminating so-called “Zero-dollar Tour” packages (story here).

“And please ask tourists to listen to lifeguard warnings, as more Chinese drown [in Phuket] than any other tourists because they think they are strong enough to swim in strong waves,” Vice Governor Sommai added.

“We will do our best for tourist safety, and welcome you to Phuket.”

— Saran Mitrarat