Phuket: New TAT office chief to sell Phuket's 'international' side

Phuket, Thailand:

Friday, November 6, 2009

New Phuket TAT office chief to sell Phuket's international side

New TAT South Region 4 office director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon.

New TAT South Region 4 office director Ms Bangornrat Shinaprayoon.

PHUKET: With the possible exception of Bangkok, Phuket is the most �international� of Thailand�s 76 provinces.

A ride past the bustling eateries that line Patong�s Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Road will confirm it: there are people from every corner of the globe living and working here.

It�s this angle that new Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) South Region 4 Office chief Bangornrat Shinaprayoon wants to expose in her bid to woo more visitors to the island.

�Phuket is the first place in Thailand that Americans would like to visit, not just for the beaches, but for the variety of food and culture here,� she said.

Ms Bangornrat, 54, took over from Sethaphan Buddhani as the Phuket tourism industry�s number one proponent on Monday.

She started her career with the TAT 27 years ago, joining immediately after finishing a masters degree in Economics at Thammasat University.

Her own international perspective was nurtured during a four-and-a-half-year stint as a director at the TAT office in New York City.

That experience gave her an insight into how foreigners, and Americans in particular, view the island.

�Right now Phuket is very well known in America, especially for its spas,� she said. �It has earned a reputation because of its people, beautiful scenery and because we have promoted it heavily on foreign internet sites and publications such as tripadvisor.com.�

Ms Bangornrat said around 700,000 Americans visited Thailand every year. Of these, about 100,000 come to Phuket.

�Phuket is the most developed province in Thailand, with more than five million tourists bringing in more than 10 billion baht annually,� she said.

�My policy would be to preserve the environment while at the same time further developing the province,� she said.

�Phuket is already an international place, but I want to make it even more well-known abroad, for example as a marine center or venue for international sporting tournaments.�

Ms Bangornrat said occupancy rate at Phuket hotels was currently around 60 percent, with at least 80 percent expected in December and January.

�Phuket is a world class destination, so I�m proud to be working here,� she concluded. �I�m going to try to bring in as many tourists as I can, maybe 10 to 20 percent more than the present number visiting Phuket.�

Meanwhile, former TAT Phuket director Sethaphan Buddhani has been transferred to Mumbai, India, where the TAT is about to open a new office.

He will be aiming to encourage more of India�s burgeoning middle class to come and spend their hard-earned rupees in Thailand.

Mumbai, the commercial and entertainment center of India, is the second most populous city in the world.

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