THAILAND’S new military government has moved into one of Australia’s favourite holiday destinations, Phuket, and swept the island’s beaches clean of deckchairs, umbrellas, masseurs and hawkers.

The move — several months in the making — is part of broader shake-up of the notoriously corruption ridden island, where an average of 25,000 Australians holiday every month.

The so-called ‘taxi mafia’ and narcotics trade have been worn down, but so too thousands of local businesses and their employees, whose livelihoods depended on tourists buying their food, drinks and wares.

Australian tourists seeking a cocktail or beer delivered to their deck chair and a foot massage — “cheap luxury” most have come to expect — are out of luck at all beaches from Rawai north to Mai Khao. The tourist hub of Patong has not been spared.

“We are not happy,’’ Dorothy Dickman, of Melbourne said, as she and her and husband Eric lounged in beanbags they dragged onto Surin beach where a row of half a dozen beach clubs has been torn down.

“We love Phuket, we have been here five times but this is why we come here. You just can’t get this in Australia.

“But now,” she says, gesturing at a posse of soldiers roaming the beaches’ edge, “you can feel the tension.”

Australian expatriates, thousands of whom live on the island, are conversely enjoying beaches restored to a more natural state, like those they know back home.

“It’s so much better, said Dave Stubbs, an Australian resident of the island who works oil rigs.

George Sasonow, a former Gold Coast resident who now lives on the island, is impressed, but mindful of the impact the clean-up has already had.

“To be honest, I prefer the beach like this,” he says. “But I also think its wrong that the government can just rip down places like the Catch Beach Club,” he said sitting on his towel before taking a dip.

“It doesn’t send a great message to people who want to come and investment their money on Phuket — or Thailand.”

The nation’s tourist industry has already suffered a downturn of more than 10 per cent so far this year, in the wake of six months of anti-government protests.

Most of the decline has been limited to Bangkok but some locals fear the clean up will have a flow on effect to Phuket.

As well, some are asking whether, despite less cluttered beaches, if the clampdown — the government tells them is aimed at the ‘taxi mafia’ and narcotics trade — has really made a difference.

Despite the official appearance of metered taxis at Phuket Airport from September 1, fares have not dropped — they are still at least twice what you would pay in Bangkok.

Still, the few remaining on-beach clubs appear to be thriving.

“They have not taken that thing away” expatriate Dave Stubbs, said, waving in the direction of the newest addition to the Phuket beach club scene the Nikki Beach Club which in April held its opening ‘White Party’ where 3,000 revellers danced until dawn.

Nikki is the 10th in a global chain of beach clubs, with an indoor/outdoor restaurant, bars and swimming pools that stretch out onto the sand — a reminder of what used to be only a few months ago, up and down many of Phuket’s beaches.

That’s because, according to the venues’ food and beverage manager, Attila Bal, “we have our paperwork right. Soon we will open a hotel behind the club,” he says. A New Year’s Eve Party is already being advertised.

As one local noted: “they (the beach clubs that have been removed) all knew it was illegal but everyone was doing it, now they have lost millions in investments.”

Locals say that the military plans to bring licenced vendors back to the beaches — in time — with more limited deckchairs and umbrellas for hire.