Phuket introduces 'safety zones' to protect tourists

[PeteC]

Phuket introduces 'safety zones' to protect tourists
By Southeast Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel, ABC April 1, 2013, 1:09 pm

http://au.news.yahoo.com/local/wa/a/-/l ... -tourists/

New safety measures have been introduced on Phuket, following the stabbing murder of an Australian travel agent on the popular Thai island last year.

Australian tourists will now see themselves placed within new "safety zones" as part of a police plan to reassure foreigners of their safety.

Police have also asked the Thai government for 5,000 extra officers to crack down on local crime.

Last year Perth woman Michelle Smith, 60, was fatally stabbed when her bag was snatched by two men on a passing motorbike in Phuket. She was on a business trip with other travel agents.

Steve Wood, who runs a bar in Patong, says there has been a big flow on effect.

"Probably 30 to 35 per cent of people [stopped] coming for over a year," he said.

"I'm sure that the people that work in the travel industry back at home aren't going to be sending people here if they see it first-hand, their own friends in an incident like this.

"It's very, very poor for Thailand."

About 6 million tourists visit Phuket each year and the number is growing. At any given time there are about 25,000 Australians in Phuket - the largest group of any nationality.

Deputy commander of police on Phuket, Peerayut Karajedee, says with more people come more problems.

"Problems are mostly tourists being taken advantage of," he said.

"Some get involved in fights or get attacked for money, in bag snatchings."

On average about 50 Australians die on the island each year - about half from natural causes, the rest from misadventure, including motorbike accidents and drug overdoses.

For years Phuket has been notorious for scams involving so-called mafia who control the jet ski business and taxi and tuk tuk transport.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's honorary consul Larry Cunningham says drink spiking is also a problem.

"Theft isn't that big a deal, the problem we tend to have more of is drink spiking," he said.

"This can be extremely dangerous because a lot of the time the drink spiker is unaware of how much to actually put into the drink.

"The tourist police and I found a couple of Aussie kids that had been unconscious for 30 hours, they were given such a hit.

"Now they were fit, young Aussie boys. Had it been an older person they probably would have died.

"There is assault, but the behaviour of some of the Aussies on holiday here, they stir it up themselves.

"There [are] only so many yobbos you can see walking up the street with a beer in each hand and no shirt bumping into the locals before something does happen.

"Unfortunately the locals have a gang mentality so that if you have an argument with a tuk tuk driver or something, suddenly there's 20 tuk tuk drivers and we've had numerous people attacked and assaulted by large numbers of drivers."

While the new tourist safety zones are now in place on Phuket, frequent visitors say a few simple rules work just as well.
"Don't get too drunk and make sure you always know your way home and got somebody with you, never be on your own," one tourist recommended.

The Bangkok Post has picked up on the article this morning as well. http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tou ... -in-phuket

[Bristolian]

I do not see that creating protection zones for the tourists is the answer to the problem. The problem is not protecting tourists better, as this is only an effect of poor policing and non application of the laws that are already in place.

The answer is to provide better policing and apply the laws of the land in an effective manner.

Phuket is under the microscope but the same problems exist country-wide. The Sabai Sabai attitude is what makes the country appealing but leaves the door wide open to abuse. The Sabai Sabai nature is often seen as a don't care attitude. Do what you like and there will be little or no consequences to pay. Add to this mixture an inefficient police force, organised crime, poor judicial system and corruption and therein you find the real problems that need to be tackled.

Adding 5,000 police is not the answer.

[Big Boy]

Protection zones for tourists do not work. Many years ago I was on holiday in San Francisco. We were warned that at night we must never turn left when we left the hotel. What did everybody do? Turn left of course - natural curiosity.

Additionally, such zones are likely to attract higher prices because of the captive audience.

[Spitfire]

Yes, I'm afraid the locals have to look a little deeper into themselves to find the real reasons why it is like it is and how to solve it.

Corruption, organized crime and selective enforcement/evasion of the law are so ingrained into the corners of everything everywhere here that it seems to me that the authorities simply try to 'keep a lid on things' so that it doesn't get too chaotic.

Things like this "safety zones for tourist" stuff are just superficial nonsense to make it appear that something is being done.

The other problem is that such places as Phuket are magnets for all the criminal garbage.........Thai as well as many foreigners that fit into this section.

[Big Boy]

If you were planning a family holiday, wouldn't it sound extreme warning bells if you read there were tourist safe zones? This implies that everywhere else is unsafe

[Frank Hovis]

Australian tourists will now see themselves placed within new "safety zones" as part of a police plan to reassure foreigners of their safety

The word 'ghetto' springs to mind.

[Bristolian]

For me it's the best place ever.

Fantastic....Please go there and stop posting here you are getting very nnoying with your one line nonsense

[usual suspect]

Bristolian shares my views on this when he mentioned proper policing..you've got attacks every week from tuk-tuk drivers down there..what is done about it?..about the same as stopping the Jet-ski rip-offs..things will not change down there for a long time yet..& I don't need to explain why.. T.I.T.

[richard]

If you were planning a family holiday, wouldn't it sound extreme warning bells if you read there were tourist safe zones? This implies that everywhere else is unsafe

Thai logic BB. No thought about the big picture

[charlesh]

The locals will tell you that it is bad Thais from the sth (jai si dum) or kamoi IIssan) much the same as the Balinese will tell you bad javanese or bad people from Lombok (read islam) ! Tis a pity that the MIB can't or won't do their jobs and that stems from the top!

[johnnyk]

The article moved on pretty quickly from the notorious jet ski scam.