Hoteliers oppose beach party

Hoteliers on Phuket’s Surin Beach oppose a New Year’s countdown beach party claiming it will disturb the peace for hotel guests. They claim the New Year holiday is family time and a raucous party on the beach will upset guests who pay a premium during  New Year. They are usually obliged to buy a gala dinner at the hotel, a condition that secures the room booking. Late last week, Phuket News reported that a mega-countdown event to be organised by Sydictive Element, 30 to 31 December, tagged the Sydictive Element World Class DJ Festival, faces strong opposition from seven Surin hoteliers. They fear they will lose high paying guests. Surin like all beaches on Phuket island are public property and as long as local police give the organisers permission to arrange a party that is open to the public, there is not much the hoteliers can do other than to ask for the music to be turned down a few notches after a certain time. The seven hoteliers are: TP Surin Beach Hotel chairman, Carl G Langenskiold; Chava Surin general manager, Larry Cunningham; Twinpalms Phuket GM, Olivier Gibaud; Surin GM Antonio Saponara; CBRE Property Management Ayara Surin, Ayara Hilltops GM, Jean-Pierre Dousse; Amanpuri GM,Frederic Varnier and Double Tree Surin by Hilton GM, Simon McGrath. They handed a letter to Phuket Governor, Maitree Intusut asking him to reconsider the venue of the countdown party. All of the hoteliers are foreigners and that will not go down well with the local community. They will claim it is yet another example of foreign hoteliers throwing their weight and money around to exclude local residents from enjoying a festival on a public beach. Tourism Authority of Thailand Phuket office director, Chanchai Duangchit, told TTR Weekly a meeting will be held on Wednesday to discuss the problem. “Hoteliers on Surin Beach wanted to move the party’s venue to other beaches or at least to the southern tip of Surin Beach well away from their hotels,” said Mr Chanchai. “The meeting will be attended  by TAT, the Sub-district Administrative Organisation, district chief officer, public works. We have to determine what is in the best interests of the destination,” he added. Earlier Surin hoteliers suggested that the event should, either change venue, or be  postponed to the low-season when there will be fewer tourists in Phuket. They claim it will create heavy traffic jams across the island, but the sole concern for hoteliers is the threat that revenue will be lost if they cannot attract a clientele willing to pay a premium for the hotel countdown celebrations usually held at poolside with a buffet dinner that costs around Bt8,000 per person including in the tab. One of the suggested alternative venues is the Patong sports field, or  the north end of Bangtao Beach, as there are no high-end hotels or private homes around there to disturb. Mr Chanchai noted that it was unlikely that the organiser would change the date of the event. The party has already been approved by the governor and also gained the full acceptance and support of the TAT vice president of marketing in Asia/Pacific, Sansern Ngaorungsi. Phuket News said the sponsors were willing to compensate hotels that lost business, but added that there was only one property, Catch Beach Club, located right where the party would take place that would be eligible. The Sydictive Element World Class DJ Festival is expected to draw 50,000 participants, and have  4,000 staff including 2,000 guards recruited from the Tourist Police, army and navy.