Phuket Beaches

In 2004, tragedy struck the shores of Phuket, Thailand, when a tsunami heartbreakingly wiped out its west coast. Thanks to extraordinary efforts from the global community, scant evidence of physical damage remains and the island has bounced back to being a sought-after holiday destination.

A strong indication that the pace of paradise has returned to Phuket is the vision of these abundant colorful umbrellas—as much as they provide shade, they are iconic symbols of the island. The tradition doesn’t have a clear origin but is credited to beach tourism, which enticed vendors to peddle these eye-catching accessories.

Cue the umbrella scandal. For decades, there were few rules on the beach. Umbrellas and recliners were rented out by locals, who also ran kiosks selling fresh fruit and massages by the sea. Trouble started frothing when it became apparent that permitless vendors were paying regular cash fees to an unidentified third party to keep these Technicolor wares on the san —a system that was technically illegal.

The military took over in 2014, leading to crackdowns on laws that had long gone ignored. The beaches of Phuket took a hit. Massage tables were ripped out, coconut stalls torn down, and officers marched across the sand in full uniform, carrying giant, colorful contraband umbrellas. Phuket went a few seasons without these conveniences until the ban broke, and beach gear returned, so long as no more than 10 percent of the shore was allocated to the vendors.

“No more mafias will control the umbrella vendors!” claimed Thailand’s military government. But the cycle continues: vendors defy the rules;  officials conduct their cartoonish sweeps…rinse and repeat. The military insists there will be no private enterprise in public spaces, but—as of this writing—the swirling kaleidoscopic umbrellas have returned in full bloom, with nobody on site to block their time in the sun.

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