Tourists wake up to the Phuket jetski scam
Cowboys continue to rule the beaches of Phuket. Photo: Phuket Gazette
75% of all respondents – including tourists – have voted that jet-skis have no place anywhere on any Phuket beach.
The poll, run for four weeks on the Phuket Gazette website, received 6,362 votes, with nearly 3,000 tourists making their voices heard concerning the simple question: “Should jet-ski operators be allowed to operate on Phuket’s beaches?”
Only 5% of the tourists who took part in the poll voted, “Yes, they provide an activity that many tourists enjoy.” A further 18% called for better regulation.
Like the tourists, the majority of Thai nationals and local expats called for an outright ban on all jet-skis in Phuket, with 73% and 76% of votes cast respectively by the groups.
The results, however, should not come as a surprise to long-term residents in Phuket, as jet-ski operators have been repeatedly granted permission to continue renting their machines out to tourists, despite multiple deaths and serious injuries over the years.
In 2004, Gazette readers correctly predicted that jet-ski operators would remain on the island despite an order by the Phuket governor at the time to phase out all jet-skis within seven years. That order came after two foreigners died in a jet-ski accident.
Another poll was called in 2009 after Australian diplomats complained to the prime minister about Phuket’s notorious jet-ski scam, in which rental operators threatened tourists – and in the famous case of Winnai “JJ” Naiman, at gunpoint – to pay extortionate sums of money for spurious damages to jet-skis.
That poll also saw a majority call for an immediate ban on all jet-skis, with a further 20% calling for them to be phased out.
As recently as 2012, Gen Pansiri Prapawat as deputy commander of the entire Royal Thai Police failed to institute a bold “Safety Zone” plan for Patong to rope in the jet-ski cowboys.
