Lifestyle on Hua Hin Today

President of Hua Hin - Cha-am Travel Association Reveals

Mr. Phairote Makmu, the president of Hua Hin and Cha-am Travel Association, Prachuap Khirikhan Province, revealed that after the government revolution, economic indicator of Thai tourism was immediately deemed to have gone down, only regional tourism in each province could run its business, especially hotels, guesthouses and others in Hua Hin, Cha-am and Prachuap Khirikhan.

The frequent visitors in the area were from Germany, and Scandinavia groups like Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, visiting even in low season. With their continuous visits, the tourism industry in the area could still keep going.

The most important selling points of Hua Hin City are the sea & beach, night market, ancient massage & spa, golfing and one of the most important places which should not be forgotten is Lua Pu Tuad (the name of a huge sacred monk statue) at Huai Mongol Temple visited by thousands of Thais, Malaysians and Singaporeans and maybe up to ten thousand of them during vacation.

Moreover, due to the flexibility of laws, foreigners have houses, condominiums and businesses located in Hua Hin and these enhance and color the future of tourism in Hua Hin & Cha-am making it brighter than others.

Mr. Phairote added the most concerning problem, with its extensive violence impacting on local people, is the social problem of a flood. When it heavily rains, the water overflows with the clay giving off a bad smell. This problem unavoidably impacts on tourists and hotels in the area, but it has still not been successfully solved.

Moreover, the vicinity around Hua Hin Temple, especially, Poonsuk Road, becomes a crowded business area with locations such as drinking bars, car rental service and so on. Without any controlling regulation, people can freely occupy the area with their Tuk-Tuk and private cars for rent or other businesses without allowance.

Occupying a road or an area in front of hotels for picking up passengers or for car rental, is a concerning problem under the responsibility of traffic police offers and municipality office according to general and municipal laws. As it their responsibility they should make sure that these selfish people are not making trouble for society. Mr. Phairote used to bring up this case of businesses on Poonsuk Road up at the meeting, but it resulted in nothing.

For the mentioned issue, there were a lot of complainers claiming to TAT Central Office, region2 and from then on, he decided to set up the Travel Association Office as another point for receiving complaints. As soon as the Association received a complaint, we would cooperate with the concerning government section responsible for the problem.

Mr. Phairote also added the national political problems would hopefully be over after the end of year general election without any turmoil or dispute. When the new government team formed, the national tourism would be intentionally promoted to catch up with Vietnam when its country began to open for tourism.

If most of tourists flocked into Vietnam, it would surely and badly impact on Thai tourism. However, the new government must consider and realize the importance of tourism problems. On another side, Mr. Phairote and Hua Hin - Cha-am Travel Association Team would take a trip to observe how different Thai and Vietnamese tourism were.