The reports in the UK press, including by the Daily Express and The Mirror, sparked a slew of rewritten articles by a host of websites, all repeating the same report. One article featured the headline ‘Phuket’s overtourism: Is Thailand’s holiday hotspot ruined?’ without the article even checking the data sources.
Mr Thaneth explained to The Phuket News the long-standing problem with such reports: that the statistics used may be misleading due to the huge difference between the number of Thais registered as living on the island, compared with the actual number of people working and living in Phuket.
“The official population of Phuket is around 400,000, but there’s a hidden population of Thais who still maintain their original registrations elsewhere [in Thailand]. Many bring their families, including children and grandchildren, to live and study here,” Mr Thaneth said.
Mr Thaneth said he understood how the official statistics could lead people who are not familiar with Phuket or do not live here to make the false assumption about the number of people actually living on the island.
“The statistic can be viewed from two perspectives, but I agree that their research holds true, but only if it’s based solely on the number of registered residents,” Mr Thaneth said.
“When looking at the [MoneyTransfers] website, it looks like overtourism because of the ‘hidden population’ who did not register… I am afraid that the image reflected through the numbers may be a bit exaggerated to use the word ‘over-touristed’ because it portrays that wherever you walk in Phuket, you will only see international visitors or tourists.
“By using that word it feels like tourists are everywhere, but in reality, if you come to Phuket and try to take pictures at Patong, Kata, Karon, Rawai or other beaches or popular destinations like the Phuket Old Town, you will not feel like there are so many people that there is no place to walk,” he said.
“But when there are reports with research done like this, it does not reflect reality. They didn’t come down to look,” Mr Thaneth said.
THE REPORT
The survey report posted online by MoneyTransfers.com, titled ‘The Most & Least ‘Over-Touristed’ Destinations Around The World’ and marked as provided by a contributor, determined that the number of tourists visiting Phuket on average outnumbered local residents by 118:1.
The article states as its methodology: “We sourced the data on international arrivals from a Euromonitor International study and all population data and figures for most visited countries from World Population Review. These data sets were then used to calculate the estimated number of tourists per inhabitant for each city and country.”
The report gave Phuket the title of the ‘Most Over-Touristed’ Destination Around The World’ with a ratio of 118.5 tourists per local residents.
Pattaya placed second with a ratio of 98.7, while the rural province of Krabi placed third with a ratio of 72.2.
All three destinations in Thailand are prone to the same problem of underreporting the actual number of local residents due to Thais not updating their official address with the civil registration database, as doing so would cost them their right to vote in their home constituency in their home province.
The highest-ranked ‘over-touristed’ destination outside Thailand went to Muğla, Turkey, which placed fourth with a ratio of 40.2, followed by Hurghada, Egypt, with a ratio of 28.6.
However, World Population Review does not provide a population figure for Phuket, or explains how World Population Review determines the figure used in the ‘overtourism report. Also, there is no link to the ‘Euromonitor International study’ cited as the other source for the article.
The Phuket News emailed MoneyTransferds.com for confirmation of the figures used in the study. However, at time of press, five days later, The Phuket News still had yet to receive a reply.
Due to the nature of the methodology reported, it cannot be determined whether or not the figure used for the number of tourists included domestic tourists ‒ that is, Thais visiting from other provinces.
Regarding international visitors, the one agency that can provide statistics on the number of foreigners actually on Phuket at any given time is the Phuket Immigration Office. By law, all owners and/or operators of rented accommodations must report any foreigners staying in their properties, regardless whether the foreigners are tourists or not. However, Phuket Immigration has stopped publicly reporting that figure.
HELD BACK
While recognising Phuket is suffering serious issues with it’s drive towards becoming a ‘sustainable destination’, Mr Thaneth, who has also served previously as President of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, said Thais coming to live and work in Phuket not updating their official address to Phuket was continuing to hamper Phuket’s drive to develop its infrastructure.
“It doesn’t just affect the statistical number of people who are registered [as living in Phuket], it makes it difficult to request the right budget from the government, which we never get,” Mr Thaneth said.
“I want to see people in Phuket change their household registration. I want to see the hidden population, the actual number of people who have moved to live and work in Phuket.
“Having a more accurate population figure for Phuket will lead to better budget allocation. The current provincial development budget is only about B160-170 million, less than some other provinces, even though Phuket generated more than B300 billion in income in 2023. This year it may reach B600bn, as in the first six months of this year Phuket had already generated more than B246bn,” he explained
“But the government allocated only this much budget… So instead of focusing on research I would like to see the existing hidden population move their registration correctly for other benefits such as budget allocation to develop the province more and more services to be provided more comprehensively.
“This is especially important when it comes to hospitals and medical treatment. The budget allocated is for only the registered population, but the actual number of people local facilities need to treat is much, much higher. This is a big problem,” Mr Thaneth said.