Thailand Plans to Build Pier at Phuket Airport

PHUKET, Feb 7 (TNA) - A feasibility study is underway to construct a pier at Phuket international airport, design for promoting tourism of the ‘Pearl of Andaman’ and to also save travelling time of holidaymakers. Engineers at the Transport Ministry’s Harbour Department have been assigned to conduct the study and lay out designs of a pier to be built at the Phuket international airport. The plan to construct the pier comes after the number of tourists visiting Phuket increases annually. It is estimated that some 9.5 million tourists visited the island in 2015. The pier, if built, would help solve traffic problem on the island. It is projected that the first route of the pier would link between the airport and the well-known Patong Beach . An initial study found that total distance by road from the airport to the beach is about 50 kilometres and it takes about 90 minutes for travelling during rush hours while travelling by a speedboat would take about 25 minutes and around 40 minutes by a passenger boat. Concerned authorities believe that the yet to be constructed pier at the airport would help save travelling time and simultaneously create positive impression for tourists visiting the island province. (TNA)