Phuket

Before becoming a major tourist destination in Southeast Asia, Phuket was simply a fishing village rich in mineral resources. Since the 1960s, when it served as a convalescence base for the US army, including the exploration of the region by European tourists in the 1970s and 1980s, and later the large-scale presence of visitors from East Asia, particularly China, in the 1990s, Phuket’s tourism boom has been marked by significant changes in the origin of its international visitors.

Phuket Island, “the Pearl of the Andaman Sea”

The name Phuket, from the Malay word “Bukit” meaning “hill”, dates back to 1025 and refers to the mountainous formations of Thailand’s largest island. The former name, Manikram, also means “crystal mountain” in Tamil. Phuket is packed with natural resources, including ivory, gemstones, natural pearls, spices and ambergris. These resources were popular with Malay pirates, Arab traders, Tamil monks, Chinese silk merchants and European adventurers between the 16th and 19th centuries.

When significant tin deposits were discovered in the Kathu region in the mid-19th century, the area quickly became the most densely populated part of the island, and a new port town was developed to serve the mines. The town was then known as Bukit, and is now referred to as Phuket Town. The modernisation of Phuket began between 1890 and 1909 under the leadership of Phraya Rassada (Khaw Sim Bee), a figure of Chinese origin. During this period, Phuket undertook the construction of many European-style buildings, as well as new transport routes.

At the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, tourism had become key to the Thai central government’s control over the island’s future. Thus, a significant share of tourism revenue was centralised in the capital and then redistributed to each province according to the official population census or the income generated by it, with the aim of balancing national development. In 2011, despite being ranked among the top ten provinces in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), the central government only allocated a budget ranked in 72nd position out of 76 provinces in terms of provincial subsidies (UNWTO, 2012).

In Phuket, this imbalance resulted in underfunded and understaffed police forces, poorly equipped and underfunded public hospitals and schools, and a road network in poor condition. Bangkok’s reluctance to delegate financial authority to Phuket has hindered the island’s full development. Many proposals for improvement originating from Phuket are regularly rejected or require approval from multiple government departments in Bangkok, which are slow to respond. This paradoxical situation highlights a greater reliance on the private sector for tourism development, with the island’s institutions being strongly influenced by national politics. Consequently, private stakeholders are much more common than local government stakeholders.

The birth of a major island tourism destination in Southeast Asia

Phuket’s current tourism imaginary, centred on exoticism, the valorisation of tropical landscapes and the perceived hospitality of local populations, has not always existed. This social representation gradually developed thanks to various favourable circumstances, such as the advent of transcontinental flights in the 1950s, a specific geopolitical context, with the presence of the US army during the Vietnam War until the mid-1970s, and later a proactive national tourism policy with the creation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) at the turn of the 1980s (Fry, 2002).

In the 1960s, Phuket was nicknamed “trash Ceylon” owing to the rapid growth of tourism at the time. In 1968, as Thailand was supporting the war in Vietnam, many hotels and bars started to cater for American troops. Many women settled on the island to provide sexual services to soldiers on leave, while some homosexual men also became involved in prostitution.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Phuket saw the development of its tourism infrastructure, such as roads, the airport, hotels, and bars, owing to the increase in the number of Western visitors. It was in the early 1970s that Phuket became a popular destination as large numbers of backpackers arrived in Asia. Patong Beach, known as “Buddha Forest”, became famous as a laid-back holiday destination where beer, sex and seafood were readily available.

In the 1970s, Patong was still a rustic village, while the rest of the region offered a pristine landscape, bordered by coconut groves and fruit trees. Until 1976, Patong could only be reached by boat or by crossing the steep hills from the Kathu region. As the number of backpackers increased in the 1970s, thatched-roof bungalows and small restaurants started to sprout up along Patong and other beaches. The road between Patong and Phuket Town (crossing some of the island’s highest hills) was only completed in 1976, and electricity did not reach Patong until 1979.

Bangkok–Pattaya tourism decentralisation policy and the Western creation of exoticism on the island of Phuket

Thailand is not an objective reality for tourists; rather, it is a creation. The country as we know it today is the result of a process of intellectual construction, a representation. When the country changed its name from Siam to Thailand in 1939, tourism was practically non-existent. In 1970, only 350,000 tourists visited the country, whereas in 2017 this figure reached 35.4 million (WTO, 2018). As mentioned earlier, since the 1950s and 1960s, Western tourists have contributed to shaping Thailand’s exoticism according to their own expectations, highlighting tropical warmth, fine sandy beaches, nightlife, and other attractions. Thus, tourism in Thailand has largely developed according to Western tourism models.

However, it is not only international tourists who influence the current image of this destination. The Thai government has also played a crucial role in shaping this image and expanding the country’s tourism system through proactive policies. The image of a smiling, welcoming, and warm Thailand, promoted by the government in the 1960s, was later adjusted to accommodate international tourists, who later expressed dissatisfaction with declining service quality.

At the same time, other countries in Southeast Asia were experiencing rapid economic growth, intensifying regional competition. As a result, the Tourism Organisation of Thailand (TOT), established in 1959, was dissolved on 5 May 1979 and replaced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Thanks to its initiatives, new tourist areas emerged along the southern coast of the country in the 1980s, once again positioning Thailand as one of the major destinations for international tourists.

The effectiveness of the TAT’s tourism policy encouraged the Thai government to integrate tourism as a major industry into its economic programme for the subsequent five years. Between 1988 and 1991, the government invested 15 million baht (about €440,000 today) in the construction, maintenance and preservation of tourist attractions. During the 1980s and 1990s, one of the TAT’s main objectives was to “decentralise” the tourism structure, which was concentrated in Bangkok and along the southern coast, to promote tourism throughout the country. Phuket was one of the key destinations selected for this development (Figures I and II).

At the time, Phuket was completely redesigned and developed according to the norms of Western seaside culture, namely sea, sand, and sun. This phenomenon can be seen along most tropical coastlines around the world, where tourism, already present on certain beaches, has transformed two separate spaces: on the one hand, the surrounding towns and villages, and, on the other hand, the marginal coastal space. The latter constitutes an entirely new area, devoted entirely to the logic of Western tourists at the time (Duhamel & Violier, 2009).

In the 1980s, Phuket attracted high-end hotels whose construction costs were only half those in Bangkok, and they were concentrated mainly on the three major beaches of Patong, Kata and Karon. In 1995, the number of hotel rooms in Phuket was fewer than 8,000, but in the early 2010s, it exceeded 50,000. The influx of tourists spurred strong growth in tourism-related economic activities and accelerated the real estate market’s rapid development. The price of land in Phuket rose from less than 50,000 baht per rai to 80 million baht by the mid-2010s, namely an increase of a multiple of 1,500 (the rai is a Thai unit of land area; 1 rai equals 1,600 square metres in the 1980s). From 1998 to 2012, more than 10,000 villas and apartments for foreign owners were built on the island (Hou, 2013).

Phuket improved its transport, accommodation and leisure facilities, attracting between 30,000 and 50,000 international migrants, mainly from Europe and other parts of the world. The so-called “Farang” community now represents nearly 10% of Phuket’s population, contributing significantly to the island’s economy and cultural diversity. Indian and Muslim communities are also relatively well represented on the island (Meyer, 1988).

Not only European tourists, who can now travel to the kingdom without a visa, but also South Koreans, Hong Kong residents and Malaysians can obtain various categories of visas (tourism, business, family visits, etc.). Thanks to the airport becoming international and the convenience of regular flights, the beaches of southern Thailand have become increasingly accessible. In parallel, the number of independent travellers has grown rapidly. All of this shows that the deliberate creation of an exotic atmosphere associated with Thailand as a tourist destination has now exceeded the initial audience targeted by promotion and communication activities. At the end of the 1990s, Thailand had become a major global destination for tropical tourism. For example, the film “The Beach”, released in February 2000 and filmed in Phuket the previous year, portrayed a highly exoticised vision of the island.

The Sinicisation of the tourism industry in Thailand and on the island of Phuket since 2000

The situation has evolved with the continued liberalisation of tourism policies and the growing share of visitors from the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Southeast Asia. The origins of international tourists, as well as the massive increase in domestic tourism, have changed significantly: whereas they were initially centred on Western countries and Japan, visitors now come mainly from Asia, with China playing an increasingly important role since the 2000s. Between 2009 and 2014, Thailand became one of the main destinations for Chinese tourists, rising from ninth place in 2009 to third in 2014. Since 2015, Thailand has even become the leading destination for Chinese outbound tourists. This evolution brought the country to ninth place worldwide in terms of international tourists, and second in the Asia-Pacific region (after China). In 2016, Thailand also ranked third globally in international tourism income, with US$49.9 billion, surpassing both China and France (Li, 2019).

The expansion of outbound tourism from mainland China came later than in Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The process began in the early 1980s, when Chinese citizens were first authorised to travel to nearby destinations. Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam were among the first countries to receive such travel authorisations. The list remained limited until the late 1990s. During that decade, Chinese tourists gradually began travelling abroad in organised groups, but they did not represent a large share of international visitors in the region. In 2002, more than 10 million foreign tourists visited Thailand, of whom 0.21% were Chinese tourists (Dai et al., 2017). However, the destruction of parts of Phuket by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 sped up this transformation. During the reconstruction of the destination, the Thai government, as well as the local government in Phuket, introduced policies to promote different types of tourism. In particular, these included the implementation of a series of visa-on-arrival schemes for Chinese tourists, as well as active policies encouraging Chinese investment in the tourism sector (Kontogeorgopoulos et al., 2014).

Outbound tourism in China has grown rapidly since the country’s economic opening in 1979. Nevertheless, its organisation remains governed by a national policy that regulates tour operators (TO), and does not operate in exactly the same way as Western systems. China also adopts a unique approach for these statistics, by including Hong Kong and Macau as international destinations, which inflates figures for tourist arrivals and departures. In her 2019 doctoral thesis, Meng Li shows, based on data from major Chinese tour operators, that Phuket is one of the main destinations for Chinese outbound tourism in the country. Unlike other international visitors, Chinese tourists travelling in organised groups represent a significant presence in this destination (Figure III). It is also noted that their catalogues differ from those available in Europe or the United States. The island of Phuket is only a one-night stop on their travel itinerary. From there, tourists travel to nearby islands for the day, for example, the Phi Phi Islands. They return to Phuket to dine, take advantage of the night markets and stay in hotels (Figure IV).

Chinese tour groups tend to concentrate in the western part of the island, where they stay overnight (in Patong, often described as the shopping centre of Phuket). In addition to Phuket, they also visit nearby islands (nearly half of their time here). While Phuket focuses largely on accommodation and shopping centres, the surrounding islands are ideal for admiring the sea and enjoying maritime activities (parasailing, banana boat rides, snorkelling in coral reefs, etc.). This analysis indicates that the distribution of places visited differs from that of other tourists in Phuket (e.g., Russians; see Figure V).

Chinese tourists in groups use the main beaches, such as Patong Beach, as daytime attractions. Rather than relaxing there, they walk along the shore and visit the streets with bars. Each site is visited for the day before moving on to another site. It could also be stated that local tourism players in Phuket and Chinese tour wholesalers have collaborated to develop, create and implement these specific tourist spaces and behaviours.

This fusion of international tourism practices has shaped Phuket for many years. Before the emergence of domestic tourism in Thailand, as elsewhere, international visitors largely dictated these practices. As mentioned earlier, Western tourists in particular influenced local communities to adapt to their tourism preferences and needs. However, over time, a variety of tourism practices and logics have emerged along the coast. The study of the Chalong area, where Phuket Town is located, the administrative heart of the island, reveals some gradual transformations. Certain sites are not frequented by all tourists. Some are specifically designed for certain groups. For example, for nearly a decade, the shopping centres in the Chalong area (duty-free shops and latex bedding stores) were largely reserved for Chinese tourists. Latex is an elastic material derived from the sap of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), produced mainly in Southeast Asia. Thailand is the world’s largest producer, with 48.7 million tonnes in 2023 (FAO, 2024), followed by Indonesia and Vietnam. Thai latex products are partly used to make mattresses and pillows, which have become one of the main souvenirs recommended to Chinese tourists by Thai merchants. The competitive local prices and specialist shipping services are the main incentives encouraging tourists to buy.

Tourism stakeholders targeting the Chinese clientele are mainly members of the Chinese diaspora historically established in Thailand, alongside more recent traders arriving from mainland China (Map 2). Together, they attract other tourism workers of various nationalities (for example, in guesthouses and the wedding sector) to adapt to this high number of tourists (Li, 2021).

These tourism stakeholders targeting Chinese visitors are clearly distinct, consisting mainly of the Chinese diaspora in Thailand and traders from mainland China. They direct other tourism employees of various nationalities (for example, in guesthouses and wedding services) to adapt to this high number of tourists (Li, 2021).

New challenges and opportunities for Phuket following the Covid-19 pandemic

Since the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s, Thailand’s tourism industry has faced a series of major events that have hampered its development. In particular, these include the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the political unrest of 2006, 2010 and 2014, and the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of 2019. For Phuket, which is heavily dependent on tourism, the impact of natural disasters and social unrest has been considerable. Natural disasters led to travel restrictions and government-imposed lockdowns, flight cancellations, and the suspension of tourist visas, resulting in a sharp decline in international tourist arrivals in Phuket. Political instability and social unrest undermined tourist confidence, and fears and uncertainty about travel worldwide prompted many visitors to cancel their trips, leading to a decline in tourism revenue.

As mentioned earlier, the Thai government’s tourism reconstruction policy implemented in Phuket after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami proved effective. In particular, it encouraged an influx of Chinese tourists, especially through organised group travel. At the same time, major Chinese investment groups in the tourism sector, such as Ctrip, also expanded in this international destination. These developments significantly reshaped the dynamic among tourism players in Phuket (Dejean et al., 2024).

At the same time, Chinese travellers are particularly sensitive to tourism crises, which are closely linked to government propaganda (Dejean et al., 2024). A serious accident in Phuket in 2018, when a boat capsized and sank, causing the death of several Chinese tourists, raised safety concerns among Chinese visitors travelling to Thailand. Since then, the number of Chinese tourists has declined significantly, with a major impact on Thailand’s tourism industry, especially in popular destinations such as Phuket. In 2019, commercial tensions between the United States and China, the depreciation of the yuan, and the slowdown in China’s economic growth further reduced the number of Chinese visitors. With China being one of the main sources of foreign tourists to Thailand, this decline in the number of Chinese tourists had a significant impact on Thai tourism. During the Covid-19 pandemic, China restricted outbound travel for three years, from 2020 to 2023, which brought radical changes to Phuket’s tourism sector and the professionals who depend on it.

To revitalise the tourism industry, Thailand set up several effective measures, such as the continuous introduction of new visa programmes, the gradual easing of entry restrictions, improvements in safety and hygiene standards, promotional campaigns and incentive policies such as reductions on hotel prices, discounts and free tickets for attractions, digital promotion of tourism, and support programmes for the tourism sector including loans, tax exemptions and training courses. For example, the visa system for Chinese tourists has undergone a major transformation since 2023, switching from a visa-on-arrival system in March 2024, to a visa exemption (for stays of up to 30 days). Other Southeast Asian countries have also changed their visa policies for Chinese tourists, with Malaysia and Singapore announcing visa exemptions in December 2023 and February 2024 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Thai government is actively seeking to diversify its tourism markets to ensure it is not dependent on a single country, particularly China. It is also important to note and discuss the impact of cannabis legalisation in 2022 on tourism. On the positive side, it has attracted new types of tourists from various countries, created new sources of tourism revenue, promoted medical tourism, attracted visitors seeking alternative therapies, and stimulated the medical industry and research. This development could improve Thailand’s image by portraying it as a more open and progressive country, thereby attracting more international visitors. However, legalisation has also raised concerns regarding safety and health. This phenomenon is still evolving, and the government has introduced a regulatory framework to encourage investors to participate in the industry and promote medical research.

Meng Li

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