OPINION

Phuket airport fiasco

Re: "AoT must justify charge", (Editorial, Feb 23).

Thank you for your editorial on AoT accountability. Anyone using Phuket airport will wonder why the airport is in such a state following a not-too-distant renovation. Large queues of people impede movement inside the main terminal, with limited seating outside the boarding gates, as space has been taken up by retail. Strange corridors lead to and from gates that international shares with the original terminal that now does domestic. Just getting to Phuket airport from Rawai, Chalong, Kata, Karon and Patong is fraught with heavy traffic that depends on a single road. On arrival, vehicle access in and out of the airport can only be described as bizarre. Any creativity regarding the airport's beachside location has been squandered. Imagine having a beach inside the airport! Even the massive windows offering a sea view are obscured by ad hoc souvenir booths. There's a huge King Power collection counter that's always empty. The King Power pre-Covid business plan depended on Chinese tourists using duty-free for tax arbitrage on alcohol, perfume and designer bags. They would buy at the mall-sized Chalong location, collect the goods at the aforementioned counter and resell at a profit upon returning to China (called daigou). And shoppers got a free lunch. However, this business model is dead as Chinese government policy seeks to reduce overseas spending and increase domestic tourism. Smart government spending leads to prosperity. Bad government spending takes us somewhere we don't want to go. Why would anyone build an airport in Betong, Yala, that no one wants to fly to? Why would anyone build a bigger airport in Phatthalung when Hat Yai is less than two hours away? Are these the same people who want to build the Land Bridge?

Light the crossings

Re: "We don't need 'Seven Dangerous Days'", (Opinion, Feb 27).

I agree entirely with columnist Peerasit Kamnuansilpa. But I still would ask why a simple change to pedestrian road crossings nationwide cannot be implemented. Leaving aside the probable benefit of much more visible policing of our roads -- when was the last time you saw a policeman "on the beat"? -- if all pedestrian crossings were: (a) raised as in a speedbump and regularly and strikingly painted, (b) highly visibly signposted to the sides and centre of the road (in both directions), and (c) well lit throughout the night, perhaps we might lose fewer lives on a facility that is supposed to be safe.

Uncertain welcome

Re: "Visa-free policy 'under review'", (BP, Feb 19).

It does not at all surprise me that the newly elected Thai government plans to reduce the 60-day visa-exemption scheme for tourists entering the country from various nations.

After all, was it not caretaker PM Anutin Charnvirakul himself who blamed foreigners during the Covid crisis a few years back for not wearing masks and thus spreading the virus around, when he was then a public health minister under various portfolios serving for the military government? Anutin even went so far as to say that foreigners "should get out" of the country!

The current visa exemption scheme has been in place now for well over a year, but as soon as the aforementioned man was elected leader of Thailand, the policy immediately came under scrutiny. So I'd say that it is more than a coincidence that the current Thai government has plans to shelve the policy.