Phuket benefits from China-Philippines row , May 25th 2012

According to a Chinese news site, Phuket has benefitted from an ongoing spat between China and the Philippines, with mainland Chinese tourists who had planned to visit the Philippines diverting to Bali, Phuket or Cheju Island in South Korea.

According to Shanghai-based online news service Eastday, the switch change came because of increasingly tense relations between China and the Philippines that blew up on April 10, “when a Philippine warship harassed 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near Huangyan Island to seek shelter from a storm”.

Huangyan Island – in fact a triangular chain of reefs and rocks surrounding a lagoon in the South China Sea – is claimed by both countries. Vietnam, too, in the past has laid claim to the shoal.

The Philippines call it Panatag Shaol but it is more widely known as Scarborough Reef, after a tea clipper of that name wrecked there in 1784. It is about 200 km from the Philippines and about 900 from Hainan Island, the closest point in China.

Eastday quoted Yu Weihua, general manager of the Shanghai China International Travel Service Co Ltd, as saying, “Short island routes with a relatively low price have soaked up the majority of local tourists [originally] bound for the Philippines because they boast similar attractions.”

The agency reported an increase of 20 per cent or more in the number of visitors it was sending to Bali and Phuket compared with last year.

Shanghai China CYTS Outbound Travel Service, too, has seen a 10 per cent increase in tourists to Bali, Phuket and Cheju. “Those who decided not to visit the Philippines contribute to the increase,” Liu Xin, its deputy general manager, told Eastday.

Eastday said that in 2011, the Philippines was a top-10 destination for tourists from Shanghai, with more than 38,000 holidaymakers heading mostly for Boracay, Cebu and Bohol.

For photographs and more on the debate over Huangyan/Panatag .

So today Phuket island have many toursit from China .

Evason workers , Phuket .

The Evason Phuket resort in Rawai was abruptly closed on Tuesday (May 22,2012), with 450 staff laid off with immediate effect, according to a labour union leader
Krittiphol Boonreerk, deputy president of the Phuket Island Resort Labour Union told The Phuket News today that almost all the workers at the Evason are seniors, who have spent a long time working at the resort.
“We need the new owner to let them keep their jobs. About 70 to 80 per cent of workers are older, and they will have trouble finding new jobs at their age,” Mr Krittaphol said.
He said workers should register as unemployed with the Labour Office, which will allow them to be added to a job search database.
He also advised workers against signing any documents from Evason without advice from the union, because there might be a risk of them signing away various rights.
Workers were hoping to meet with the owner of the resort on June 12, but at this stage the identity of the owner is still unknown.
V/Gov Sommai told the workers that she will assign the Phuket Provincial Labour Protection and Welfare Office and the Employment Offices to negotiate with the resort owner on their behalf.
Evason Resort is 5 start hotel in Rawai area and open many year .