Official closing times of 4am haven’t even been officially sanctioned yet and, already, local politicians are pushing for a 6am closing time for bars and entertainment venues in Phuket’s party town.
Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, leader of the Thai Civilized Party, took a stroll down Patong’s Bangla Road last night, the second prominent political visit to Phuket within 24 hours.
Yesterday, the head of the opposition Move Forward Party, Pita Limjaroenrat, led his team to visit Phuket to search for a model to develop projects and infrastructure across the country. He was proposing a Phuket Next platform for the next election.
Thai Civilised Party has only one seat in the parliament with Mongkolkit Suksintharanon as the sole MP, aligned to the Palang Pracharat coalition. His party intends fielding a candidate for Phuket in the forthcoming general election.
Speaking to The Phuket Express, he said that entertainment venues must be ready to prevent any fire.
“Fire prevention system must be checked every three months. Phuket is a special economic city. There were 15 million visitors per year or 1.2 million visitors per month before Covid-19. After Covid-19 restrictions were lifted there are now about 40,000 visitors per day.”
He also addressed the curly question of closing times for Patong entertainment venues, suggesting they should, officially, be able to remain open until 6am.
“In my opinion entertainment venues should be opened until 6am as most of the tourists are foreigners.”
“The extended hours should not affect other parts of the island as well.”
Officially, entertainment areas around Thailand, in tourist hotspots, are allowed to remain open until 2am with a push from the industry to increase that to 4am. In reality, many venues routinely open beyond the official 2am closing time already.
SOURCE: The Phuket Express
