Global City: Phuket Aims to Broaden Tourism!

We have written frequently about past and future infrastructure projects, all designed to enhance the quality of life in Phuket. Indeed, the impact of these improvements can be seen in the number of people who have chosen to relocate to the island. But while Phuket remains heavily dependent on the tourist sector, plans to further modernise the island – once viewed as pipe dreams by many – are being embraced by the new government in Bangkok.

To be clear, politicians and planners do not want to supplant tourism with other industries, but rather enhance and diversify the type of visitors who come to Phuket. To accommodate this influx of people there must be infrastructure enhancements (large and small), all of which will benefit the lives of the island’s residents, with an inevitable positive impact on the real estate market.

While road infrastructure has been greatly improved, the geography of Phuket (with mountains and valleys in the middle of the island) has resulted in most major traffic arteries running parallel to the coast, with more narrow roads snaking through areas like Kathu, Chalong, Rawai and Cherng Talay.

One significant traffic bottleneck is the windy road from Kathu over Patong Hill – a major artery from the airport and the central valley to one of the most popular resort beaches on the island. It is almost ten years since a tunnel through the hill was proposed, to accept cars and trains. After heavy rains caused the Patong Hill road to wash away in a landslide in 2022 there was traffic chaos across the entire island. And the tunnel began receiving renewed attention.

Originally discussed as a multi-functional tunnel to accept cars and light rail, what is now being talked about is car tunnel only. But the Patong Tunnel project (officially called the Kathu-Patong Expressway) is just one phase of the larger Muang Mai-Ko Kaew-Kathu Expressway – a proposed elevated highway through the Kathu Valley, connecting to the Bypass Road. While environmental groups (and certainly homeowners in the area) would not be happy if the full project comes to fruition, it would definitely ease congestion on both Patong Hill and the North-South highway.

The need to improve traffic flow also led to the discussion of a light rail network to run from the airport to Chalong in the south of the island. This is currently being weighed against a more flexible network of electric buses, but everyone agrees that action needs to be taken here. That said, any construction of a tunnel through Patong Hill would send more traffic along the North-South highway (the proposed light rail route). It is therefore highly unlikely that a light rail project would commence before the tunnel is finished.

The new government in Thailand is very keen to maximise the appeal of the country’s premier resort destination, so these projects are being discussed not only among the officials in Phuket Province, but they’ve also attracted the attention of national leaders in Bangkok.

But it is more than just the roads that are under consideration for improvement. Airport construction and expansion is also at the forefront, and not only in Phuket. While Phuket International Airport is due to see its capacity expanded from 11.2 million passengers per annum to 18 million, a significant expansion of Krabi International Airport is also planned to increase capacity from 5 million to 17 million passengers per year. All of this is on top of major new airport construction in Phang Nga, with a planned capacity of 40 million passengers per year!

While Krabi already takes some direct flights, Phuket has always been the major hub international that tourists have used for all three of these holiday destinations. The ability of Krabi and Phang Nga to process up to 57 million tourists per year, would certainly cut down on traffic in the north of the island, and especially on the causeway.

In addition to improving transportation, another plan for Phuket is to make it a global convention and expo destination. Cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and even Bangkok, attract millions of convention attendees every year. Phuket already has the hotel infrastructure to support company conferences, but there is not a major convention centre – a shortcoming the government wants to rectify.

Phuket already has other strengths beyond vacation tourism, and the government is looking to maximise the potential of these, while expanding on a few other ideas to attract more people to the island.

We have previously discussed the world class hospitals, the marinas, as well as the growing number of internationals schools and sport academies on the island. The authorities are looking to be a hub in all of these areas: marinas, medical tourism, education and sports tourism.

Given the quality and variety of food in Phuket, there are also plans to make the island a Culinary Hub.

Phuket is already well positioned to expand and excel in all of these areas, building on its existing prominence as a vacation destination with idyllic scenery and world class beaches.

Improving access to the island from overseas – including the expansion of Krabi and Phang Nga airports to remove some of the congestion from Phuket International – is a great first step. A new international convention centre, combined with expanding education, sports, marina and medical tourism, will bring new groups to Phuket.

And the planners all know that to get these new visitors around Phuket more efficiently, the new tunnel and Kathu expressway projects will be more important than ever.

This article is from the Thai Residential Phuket Property Guide.
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