The trial rule of restricting vendors to only 10 per cent of the beach is to be rolled out at all beaches in Phuket, Governor Nisit Jansomwong has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette.

“Local administrations will remain responsible for regulating and enforcing the new rules, which include no sun loungers at any beaches,” he added.

“The local administration for every beach in Phuket will submit their own detailed plans as to where vendors may operate at beaches in their respective jurisdictions, to ensure they comply with the 10-percent rule.

“I have also suggested that signs in four languages – Thai, English, Chinese and Russian – be installed at every beach to explain the rules to tourists.”

Governor Nisit noted that it may be a tough task ensuring that beach vendors comply with the new rules.

“The rules currently on trial are not the best for everyone, and I am aware that some vendors keep trying to break them,” he said.

“We are trying to change what they have been doing for 30 years. It will take time to adjust and for us to come to the same understanding.

“I will leave it to local officials, including police, to enforce – and I have tasked the three Phuket vice governors to each look after one district.”

Governor Nisit confirmed that not all people who worked as beach vendors would return to the sands.

“We are trying our best to balance demand from tourists for beach vendors’ services and all the old vendors wanting their jobs back, but the most important thing is to return the beaches to the public,” he said.

Governor Nisit warned that any local officials caught intentionally allowing breaches of the rules to occur in their areas would be charged with failing to perform their duties.

The penalty for officials found guilty of neglecting their duties is imprisonment of one to 10 years, a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 baht, or both, he noted.

The warning follows a special police investigation last year uncovering a system by which beach vendors sold off their rights to work on the sands to third parties in a scheme that raked in more than a billion baht.

Governor Nisit stressed that tourists could rent or bring their own umbrellas to the beach and sit wherever they wanted on the sands.

“Umbrella vendors can help tourists set up an umbrella for them in the 10-percent area, but the umbrella must be removed as soon as the tourists leave,” he said.

“No area on any beach in Phuket can be used by any vendor as their own, and no equipment is to be left on the beaches overnight.”

Thailand’s reputation as one of the world’s most romantic destinations was further enhanced recently when two top travel and lifestyle publications voted the islands of Phuket and Samui as among the world’s most romantic destinations and perfect honeymoon settings.

Just short of Valentine’s Day, the highly-respected travel website, Fordors.com named Phuket as one of the world’s Best Honeymoon Destinations for 2015, while VeryFirstTo.com, a luxury retail site that caters for wealthy tourists, rated the Southern Thai island of Samui as one of the top ten romantic destinations in the world, alongside cities; such as, Paris and Venice.

Fordors.com praised Phuket as a honeymoon destination, citing its endless soft white sandy beaches, electric blue waters and the world’s best sunsets. Also singled out was the fine dining the island can boast as well as temples, five-star resorts and nearby excursions. Other honeymoon destinations featured in the Fordor list included Milan, Las Vegas and St. Barts.

In the Thai Gulf, the island of Samui was rated highly as a romantic destination by 581 members of VeryFirstTo.com. The survey asked “which is the most romantic destination in the world?” to establish which destinations should appear in the Valentine’s holiday organised in partnership with tour company Hurlingham Travel. Paris, Venice and St. Moritz were cited, with Samui being chosen for its friendly island atmosphere, unique culture and fine dining.

TAT Governor, Mr. Thawatchai Arunyik said, “It’s wonderful that Thailand’s loveliest islands are being recognised as romantic hotspots just in time for Valentine’s Day. But Thailand is a romantic destination for couples and honeymooners all year round. Phuket and Samui are known for their lovely beaches, stunning scenery, warm sea, ever-friendly people and range of fun activities to enjoy, as well as being home to some of the finest hotels in Asia: everything a couple in love could ask for.”

The ruble’s fall by almost half in the past six months has kept wealthy Russians from their shopping trips to St. Moritz. It has also turned the flow of vacationers from the country to Thailand to a trickle.

The Land of Smiles recorded a fall in tourists last year for the first time since the global financial crisis after visitors from Russia, Thailand’s third-biggest source,fell for nine straight months through December as sanctions were widened and the ruble slumped.

Admittedly, the military coup in Thailand on May 22 also scared tourists away. Martial law is still in place, which makes getting travel insurance very hard, if not impossible; several tourist murders at popular beach resorts have further muddied the country’s appeal.

Fortunately for Thailand, where tourism accounts for about 10 percent of gross domestic product, the Chinese have been flocking to its temples and beaches in greater numbers. Visitors from the mainland rebounded in the last three months, and surged 87 percent in December from the previous year. Tourists from China made up about 19 percent of the almost 25 million visitors last year, the biggest share, while those from Russia accounted for about 7 percent of the total.

The military-led Thai government, struggling to revive the economy with exports slumping and investors wary, offered a three-month visa-fee waiver for Chinese and Taiwanese tourists last August. It’s also promoting the country as a medical tourism destination.

It will need all the help it can get: tourists from Russia will drop by 20 percent to 40 percent this year to all destinations, Yakov Mirkin, head of the Department of International Capital Markets at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an op-ed this month.

Fortunately, Chinese outbound tourism is forecast to grow up to 20 percent this year from last year, when the number of Chinese traveling abroad reached 109 million. Time to extend that visa- fee waiver.

This article was written by Sharon Chen from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.