The end of diving in Phuket?

[Batfish]

K. Surin added that the Phuket dive industry is believed to generate about 3 billion baht in revenue a month.

Sounds awfully high to me! That would be 36 Billion Baht per year. That would be equivalent to ONE MILLION divers in Phuket per year, each spending on average 36,000 Baht on diving (the price of a nice liveaboard). These people seem to be making up random numbers to justify their ideas.

 

[spog]

Sounds awfully high to me! That would be 36 Billion Baht per year. That would be equivalent to ONE MILLION divers in Phuket per year, each spending on average 36,000 Baht on diving (the price of a nice liveaboard). These people seem to be making up random numbers to justify their ideas.

I guess the liveaboards must be getting a bit crowded if they have to service that many divers each year.......

 

[MoonWrasse]

$75 million a month does sound a tad high
I actually initially misread it at 3m thb, or $75k a month, and was wondering how the boats could keep floating on that, let alone the rice for the DMs.

None of this makes sense to me right now as coming from a logical position.

 

[orangelemon]

Read this article after seeing the very 'scary' headline, after I read it I came to the conclusion that legit businesses are already providing all financial information to the taxman via their accountants but it appears their needs to be an initiative by government to audit every dive operation in the region, I cant see anything coming from it. I personally dont know any instructors left here in the 'low' season that havent got work permits but cracking down on the website only agents that arent registered with PADI or the Thai Tax department can only be a good thing for us very hard working / legitimate businesses
Additionally nothing official has been given to us or asked of us since the article came out

james

 

[Batfish]

registered with PADI

The local government couldn't care less about PADI, they just want money! I would however, make sure that you have a TAT licence. Anyone offering diving online or at a shop/office/divecenter will need one. Not having one is very expensive.

They get very sneaky with freelancers, be sure to check the work permit in the section that says "Locality Permitted to Work".

Are there really any web site only agents who do not also have an office/dive center here? If there are, they surely make up a very small percentage of bookings. For sure the larger agents are all legal, have TAT licence, pay VAT, witholding tax, salary tax, social insurance...etc. But please, do try to squeeze us some more.

And this only applies to Phuket Province, a crusade by a local politician. Would not apply to Krabi, Phi Phi (Krabi Province), Khao Lak (Phang Nga Province)...if they start causing too much trouble, you may well see more operators moving their base to Khao Lak (eager to attract businesses after the tsunami).

nothing official has been given to us or asked of us

Becasue this was just a proposal, not approved by the governor. Nothing to hide or not, why do they like to pick on the dive shops? Why not pick on the tailors? Or the 00's of little travel agents, or the jet skis, or the tuk tuk drivers, or the tour companies? How much tax do they pay?! It's just mistust on some people's part - dive industry=foreigners=money..so how can we get more from them?

Le Rant c'est finis!

PS Jolly well done to the Germans for beating the Argies. Now the path is clear for an England - Germany final

 

[MoonWrasse]

PS Jolly well done to the Germans for beating the Argies. Now the path is clear for an England - Germany final

Man o man you need a chamber ride!

 

[OnTheSpot]

Oh well, the World Cup is over.

PS. Batfish will now continue on this forum as my personal handle, whereas OnTheSpot will be the one to ask for diving information.