Phuket's key tourism operators are preparing a white paper that will urge the government to tackle deterioration of the environment and overdevelopment on the island amid rapid urbanisation.
"Things are not okay in Phuket," said Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, a hospitality consultancy based in Phuket, and co-founder of Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism, a sustainability event for the travel and hospitality sectors in Southeast Asia.
"We've seen the problems related to flooding and overdevelopment. Tourists don't come to Phuket to die in floods or to be stuck in traffic," said Mr Barnett. "We're very concerned from a sustainability and development point of view about Phuket."
When the only major road connection to the airport is closed due to heavy rains and flooding, for example, this immediately disrupts tourism, as has been seen over the past few years.
With the EDC Thailand 2025 music festival scheduled to take place in Cherngtalay in January 2025, which is expected to attract around 20,000 people, tourism operators are concerned about infrastructure capacity, including transport and water supply, which always encounter critical issues during the high season for tourism.
According to C9 Hotelworks, nearly 10,000 residential units are in the pipeline in the popular Bangtao area, which will double the existing supply.
In addtion, there will be more real estate projects overall, including residential and hotel projects worth 80 billion baht, launched in Phuket within the next four years.
Greenview, a sustainable hospitality consultant, also warned that Phuket is facing a high level of risk in terms of rising sea levels, floods and water stress.
Karon and Kata, defined as prime areas on the island, experienced landslides and severe flooding last month.
Mr Barnett said significant infrastructure plans and policies had been delayed for many years, such as the Patong tunnel and the new town planning act that was to adopt the floor area ratio system, which would have helped in zoning urbanisation capacity.
The fiscal budget for the local government is allocated based on the number of households, without considering the massive number of tourist arrivals, many of whom are long-stay guests.
He said the white paper will outline important details about the island's growth situation including tourist arrivals, traffic congestion, the development pipeline and tax revenue. It will first focus on the Cherngtalay area as a pilot area.
Key stakeholders in the area, including C9 Hotelworks, Laguna Phuket, Minor International, Central Pattana, Sansiri, and Homa, will jointly raise the issues and will also seek cooperation from the Thai Hotels Association's southern chapter.
"We are asking for the Phuket master plan to have continuity," said Mr Barnett.
He said the master plan will be a guideline for a concrete infrastructure plan that would not be changed every four years after the provincial governor completes a term.
"The private sector can lead, but it needs the public sector to initiate change," said Mr Barnett.