Overview
Introduction to Phuket
Phuket is Thailand's foremost tropical beach holiday destination. An island with a north-south orientation and a length of a mere 48 kilometers, much of its western coast consists of long sandy beaches between headlands covered with tropical evergreen forest. Phuket faces the Andaman Sea (the southeast part of the Bay of Bengal) on its west coast, and a sheltered inland sea that includes the karst scenery of Phang Nga Bay on its east coast. Not surprisingly, Phuket is a very well developed tourist destination.
Phuket's most famous beach is Patong, but there are nine other major beaches on Phuket's west coat alone, and there are more than fifteen beaches with resorts if you count the smaller ones. The Tourism Authority of Thailand lists 212 hotels for Patong alone, and there are over 400 other places to stay on the island
Phuket is not just an island in the sun, a place where the only thing to do is soak up rays on the beach. You can play golf, go sailing, go sea-kayaking, and for those who want to look beyond the surface of tourism which drives much of the island's economy, the east coast is home to the residential Thai community. This is where visitors can learn more about the host country - Thailand.
Geography
Phuket is Thailand's smallest province (with 543 km2 it is ranked 75th) but it is ranked 68th in size of registered population and 6th as regards its density. However official population statistics in Thailand are based on data taken from house registration documents. Since house owners do not usually allow people renting properties to register their names on the relevant house registration papers, official population statistics have little bearing on the real situation. That foreign tourists are thought to outnumber local residents by about 12 to 1 is perhaps a more meaningful statistic.
Most of the tourism development has taken place on the west coast, where ridges running to the west of the granite hills, particularly in the southern half of the island, form headlands between very pretty bays. The most developed beaches are on the southwest side of the island, but tourist beaches extend up the entire west coast.
The hills in the southern part of the island reach elevations of over 500 meters and are covered with rubber plantations. The coastal plains to the east are home to the main local residential populations, especially in the area around Phuket City.
In the past, much of the intertidal zones and flat lands near the beach on the east coast were covered by mangroves, but as much as 90% of these have been replaced by residential landfill, by plantations, and particularly by prawn farms. Because the sheltered tropical waters to the east of the island were particularly fecund due to the proximity of spawning grounds amongst the mangroves, the earliest populations lived in fishing villages along this coast. The industrial exploitation of rich tin deposits inland from the east coast in the the late 19th and early 20th centuries lead to large migrations of Overseas Chinese, who came as coolies. Their descendents form the core population of Phuket City.
Because of the predominance of mudflats and patches of mangroves along the coast, the northeast part of Phuket Island remains the least developed for tourism. The level of development is a relative concept on Phuket, however, since the fastest growing sector of the economy in recent years has been residential tourism. Property developers are snapping up any land that offers views, creating luxury tropical homes for wealthier retirees from overseas, particularly from Hong Kong and Singapore.