Racing for Phuket's Recovery

In a novel bid to shed positive light on Phuket and southern Thailand’s ailing post-tsunami tourism economy, a Phuket-based international endurance race driver and marina developer is promoting the south Thailand island destination at the prestigious, media-focused Le Mans series motorsport race circuit to help win back tourists.

Six months after the deadly tsunami hit Asia’s coastlines and international media descended on Phuket as headquarters for reportage, tourism numbers are still struggling to recover.

Despite, much of southern Thailand’s tourism-focused coastline being minimally damaged by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, and most destinations fully functioning, tourists are staying away in droves, resulting in many job losses since December.

Englishman Ian Mitchell, project director of Phuket’s latest east coast marina development Paradise Bay Marina, competes regularly with his race team Kruse Motorsports in the world-renowned Le Mans Endurance Series and is gearing up for the high-powered Le Mans 24 hr circuit in France, racing in car number 30, this weekend (18-19 June). 

Mitchell’s race team, in association with the Rotary Club of Patong Beach, actively fundraise for tsunami aid at each race venue while international media coverage captures the highly visible race car slogan “Visit Phuket Tropical Paradise”.

“Le Mans is a huge event and gets massive global coverage, so if we are running well and are competitive during the race, we will have fantastic media coverage and TV exposure for Phuket,” Mitchell said.

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