ash'ventures

inviting guest posts

You may have read the guest post Thinking about the future of Phuket tourism by Matt on my website. Do you fancy sending in a guest post? if you like to contribute something, drop me a comment with your email address (email address will not be displayed to public with your comment). I will then contact you by email.

Your article can be on anything under the sun. However, I look forward to articles on South East Asia including tourism, religion or culture. I will be biased to give priority to articles calling the attention of the world to make a difference to someone's life e.g orphanages and charities in Cambodia, flood victims in Philippines, ladyboy's of Thailand etc. Short stories, poems, paintings, cartoons, pictures etc are welcome too. Your contribution will be credited to your name with a link back to your website.

There are two conditions though :
a. your contribution must genuinely be yours and not stolen or copied. If there are portions borrowed from someone else, the source should be referenced.
b. your article should not contains things that are discriminatory, disrespectful, immoral towards any other person or institution.

There will be no editing, but I deserve the right to add footnotes or an introduction or comments about the writer or the subject.

At the same time, I would like to contribute guest posts to other bloggers. If you are looking for guest writers, do let me know.

Guest Post by Thailand's Lost Boy : Thinking about the future of Phuket tourism

After experiencing what could turn out to be Phuket's busiest high season, you get the feeling that Phuket is being pulled in several directions.

On the one side, there is mass tourism, which is the source of most of the money that comes in to Phuket, but is also the reason why much of the scenery has become a concrete jungle. Then you have high-end tourism, which brings in a significant amount of money to luxury resorts and expensive restaurants. Somewhere between the two there is eco-tourism.

If Phuket is to remain the center of attention in the Andaman region, then tourism is going to have to keep up with current global trends. Many tourists are becoming more environmentally aware. As a result, they are beginning to pick and choose their holiday destinations on eco-conscious factors. This type of tourist is often referred to as a “quality tourist”.

The authorities in Phuket have said that they want to attract quality tourists to the island to protect the island's natural features, but, as with Phang Nga and Krabi, mass tourism is far outweighing quality tourism. It's a sad state of affairs because, despite overdevelopment in places such as Patong Beach, there is still much for Phuket to be proud of. Places such as Mai khao Beach are practically untouched and yet the way the island is heading, you wonder how long it will be until Phuket becomes another Ibiza.

Cynicism aside, Phuket isn't at that stage yet and there is still hope that sufficient changes can be made in order to retain the orignal appeal of the island.

This post was written by Matt from Phuket Vogue and Thailand's Lost Boy.