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SAWASDEE & WELCOME TO PHUKETRESORT.
COM
History | Orientation
| People
PHUKET
PEOPLE are charming and friendly. They genuinely like visitors, and appreciate
others sharing their love of the island ,beloved country and all things Thai.
PHUKET has a population of more than 200,000.(The island's official population
as of December 1998 was 231,206.). Phuket Town, with a population of about 63,000,
is located on the east side and Patong Beach.The residents are Thais who migrated
from the mainland .About 35% of the island's population are Chinese descendant.
But they differ from those in Bangkok because they came from the Hokkien region
of China, who migrated to Phuket during the boom of the tin mining industry in
the 17th - 18th century.Today, the descendants of the early Chinese settlers are
responsible for much of the trade and commerce that take place on the island.
They also represent the strongest culture of Phuket town.
Another main group
of about 35% of the Thais living on Phuket are Muslims. Muslims living in southern
Thailand are of Malaysian extraction and arrived at an early date.Concentrated
mostly around Surin and a few other big villages, they work as rice and rubber
farmers.
One of the most interesting groups of people who have lived
on Phuket are the Sea Gypsies. There are three Sea Gypsy villages in Phuket. The
one located at Rawai is thought to be the oldest and is visited by busloads of
tourists everyday. Another village is located 8km north of Phuket Town at Sapam
Coast, and a third village is located on Siray Island which is accessible by bridge
from Phuket Town. Sea gypsies are the most interesting original inhabitants of
Phuket island but the intrusion of tourists is impinging on their lifestyle.
The tourism boom in Phuket during the last decade, Phuket has attracted people
from other regions to work in Phuket. Backpacking tourists started to visit the
island and its attraction in the early 1970s. The inhabitants of the island quickly
increase. Today the tourism industry, which is now the largest source of income.
