# Tourism-Induced Urbanization in Phuket Island, Thailand (1987-2024): A Spatiotemporal Analysis
## 3 Results
### The Analysis of Phuket's Urban Expansion Evolution  
The Phuket cityscape has undergone changes over the past 37 years due to the development of tourism and infrastructure. Starting from 1987, when the urban area covered around 51.2 km, there was a steady increase to 109.5 square kilometers by 1990, mainly driven by early tourism initiatives. As Phuket gained popularity as a tourist spot the urban area expanded further to 150.8 square kilometers in 1996-2000. The early 2000s witnessed growth with the urban area reaching 223.5 square kilometers during the 2006-2010 period. This expansion trend. Throughout 2016-2020, the Phuket urban area had grown to encompass 312.8 square kilometers, reflecting ongoing development pressures and urban sprawl. By the period of 2021-2024, this growth trend continued as the cityscape extended to cover an area of 345.6 square kilometers. The expansion of Phuket's landscape has shown an average annual growth rate of about 6.65% with notable fluctuations indicated by a standard deviation of approximately 29.34%. Various factors such as conditions, policies, and environmental influences contribute to this variability, leading to extreme annual growth rates ranging from a high of around 88.08% to a low of 52.75%. Despite these fluctuations, there is a positive trend with a median annual growth rate of approximately 11.85%, suggesting that expansion outweighs contraction. This dynamic pattern of growth underscores the factors shaping Phuket's urban development and emphasizes the importance of sustainable planning and management practices. Understanding these patterns is essential for creating strategies that strike a balance between progress, environmental conservation, and social equality to tackle the issues linked with swift urban growth [50]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Year**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Accuracy**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**LULC (km2)**} \\ \cline{2-9}  & **OA** & **KC** & **Urban (\%)** & **Water (\%)** & **Agriculture (\%)** & **Forest (\%)** & **Barren (\%)** & **Mangrove (\%)** \\ \hline
1987–1990 & 0.9606 & 0.9400 & 78.9 (14.5) & 11.3 (2.1) & 267.4 (49.2) & 138.2 (25.5) & 13.5 (2.5) & 33.7 (6.2) \\
1991–1995 & 0.9569 & 0.9344 & 89.6 (16.5) & 12.8 (2.4) & 238.9 (44.0) & 143.6 (26.4) & 25.0 (4.6) & 33.0 (6.1) \\
1996–2000 & 0.9500 & 0.9348 & 92.6 (17.1) & 13.2 (2.4) & 229.4 (42.2) & 135.5 (25.0) & 36.4 (6.7) & 35.7 (6.6) \\
2001–2005 & 0.9487 & 0.9380 & 97.0 (17.9) & 13.9 (2.6) & 235.3(43.3) & 134.9 (24.8) & 35.1 (6.5) & 27.0 (5.0) \\
2006–2010 & 0.9452 & 0.9204 & 105.9 (19.5) & 15.1 (2.8) & 223.0 (41.1) & 136.2 (25.1) & 31.0 (5.7) & 31.7 (5.8) \\
2011–2015 & 0.9427 & 0.9156 & 106.0 (19.5) & 15.1 (2.8) & 238.5 (43.9) & 102.5 (18.9) & 51.9 (9.6) & 29.0 (5.3) \\
2016–2020 & 0.9451 & 0.9184 & 89.8 (16.5) & 12.8 (2.4) & 288.6 (53.1) & 105.9 (19.5) & 18.9 (3.5) & 27.0 (5.0) \\
2021–2024 & 0.9426 & 0.9270 & 102.4 (18.9) & 14.6 (2.7) & 278.9 (51.4) & 109.9 (20.2) & 13.5 (2.5) & 23.6 (4.3) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Accuracy assessment and land use and land cover changes during the study periods. The evolution of Phuket's landscape follows a fluid and changeable trajectory, sensitively reacting to economic and environmental occurrences. The city has undergone fluctuations characterized by pivotal moments of transformation [42]. In the period of 1996-2000, a consistent urban expansion fueled by tourism came to an abrupt halt due to the impact of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, leading to a sharp decline in the city size from 115 sq km to 65 sq km. This shrinkage reflected the repercussions of the crisis on Phuket's economy and tourism industry, resulting in reduced foreign investments and slowed progress [16]. In the 2001-2005 period, there was a resurgence in growth marked by significant changes following the devastating impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.