Coronavirus effect: Phuket now a tourist-free 'ghost island'

Phuket's go-go dancers sit playing on their phones in empty bars lining deserted streets as the Thai tourist island reels from the ravages of the pandemic with little sign of any recovery soon.

Swimming pools are empty, chairs are stacked high in deserted restaurants and normally packed beaches are so quiet they are even seeing rare species of sea turtle arriving to nest.

A stall with stacks of chairs and mats along Patong beach, in Phuket.

Foreigners wearing face masks walk past a closed seafood restaurant along Patong beach in Phuket.

A man walks along an empty Patong beach in Phuket which has seen a lack of tourists due to ongoing restrictions relating to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

Last year, more than nine million tourists visited Phuket, the kingdom's second most popular destination after Bangkok.

Today, nearly all the island's 3,000 hotels are closed and the main town of Patong has become a "ghost town", says local tycoon Preechawut Keesin, who owns five nightclubs and around 600 hotel rooms.

Thailand has so far remained relatively unscathed from the global outbreak with around 3,600 confirmed cases and just a few dozen deaths.

But the kingdom's decision to concentrate on beating the virus has dealt a brutal blow to the economy, which is expected to contract 7-9 percent this year and leave millions unemployed. | Visitors take pictures on a set of stairs on Patong beach which has seen a lack of tourists due to ongoing restrictions relating to COVID-19.

In normal times, 80 percent of the island's profits come from tourism, a sector that employs more than 300,000 people. | A DJ playing at the almost empty Kudo club at Patong beach in Phuket.

Tens of thousands of those who have lost their jobs have returned to their home provinces. | A food vendor waits for customers in front of empty shop houses along Patong beach in Phuket.

Life is hard for those sticking it out. | A vendor waiting for customers in front of an empty entertainment complex along the popular walking street of Patong in Phuket.

Before the pandemic, domestic holidaymakers only made up 30 percent of visitors to Phuket, prompting the local tourism industry to rethink its business model. | People walking past a shuttered market area along Patong beach in Phuket.

Phuket has been due to welcome Thailand's first foreign tourists since April in a cautious experiment by the kingdom, but their arrival keeps being pushed back. | People driving past empty clubs along the popular walking street of Patong in Phuket.