KOH LANTA IS OK

Story by SUJINTANA HEMTASILPA

Impatient with the slow pace of government efforts to bring tourists back to their properties on the Lanta resort islands in Krabi after the Dec 26 tsunami, the local resort community has collaborated on its own campaign to tell the world that it is now okay to visit its beaches.

The local hospitality industry hopes the campaign can help increase the occupancy rate of its resort properties to 50% from the current 20% level by April.

Even though Koh Lanta and neighbouring islands in the chain were listed among the tsunami-affected areas, they have not been on the priority list of government organisations tasked with reviving the tourism industry .

State agencies, especially the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), are now focusing their efforts on Phuket and Phangnga, said Anuchat Tosayanon, resident manager of the Lanta Sand Resort and Spa.

In Krabi, where the damage was not as severe as in Phangnga and Phuket, the revival assistance was targeted at Koh Phi Phi, and the Ao Nang and Ao Railay areas on the mainland, Mr Anuchat said.

``It's so sad that when the TAT announced its recent tourism revival plan, not a word was mentioned about Lanta,'' said Gijsbert Roodenburg, general manager of the Sri Lanta Resort.

Regardless of the extent of the damage, the tourism-dependent resort islands are feeling the same fallout as Phuket and Phangnga a month after the disaster, when tourists were virtually non-existent and businesses were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

But with or without state assistance, hotel operators on the islands are not ready to give up just yet. Nine major resorts on the islands grouped together with the support of the Lanta Tourism Association and Lanta district government to launch a campaign called ``Koh Lanta OK'' on Jan 22 to spread the word among domestic and international tourism operators that it is safe to visit Lanta and that all resort facilities in the area are ready to provide full services to tourists again.

The nine resorts are Holiday Villa, Lanta Casuarina Beach Resort, Lanta Sand Resort and Spa, Layana Resort and Spa, Moonlight Bay Resort, Pimalai Resort and Spa, Royal Lanta Resort and Spa, Sri Lanta Resort, Layana Resort and Spa, and Twin Lotus Resort and Spa.

Mr Anuchat of Lanta Sand said his fellow resort operators had proposed to the Krabi provincial government to make Lanta district the province's new tourism hub instead of the severely damaged Phi Phi islands.

``It will take a few year for Phi Phi to recover, so during this period Lanta can act as a hub for one-day trips to Phi Phi,'' Mr Anuchat said.

They also want to inform tourists that they can conveniently reach the islands by car. Many tourists are reluctant to visit the islands in the mistaken belief that access is by boat only. In fact, car ferries are available at Hua Hin Pier, about 64 kilometres away from Krabi airport, from 6 am to 11 pm every day.

According to Mr Anuchat, the tsunami damaged mainly the beaches to the west of Lanta, destroying most fishermen's trawlers and fishing equipment and devastating small cottages of some small-scale resorts, but affected only slightly the beachfront areas of well-established resort properties. The waves, however, killed nine Thais and two international tourists.

Well-established resorts, mostly three- and four-star properties, spent about a week clearing the debris left by the tidal waves. A few properties on the west, nevertheless, sustained rather serious damage.

Among the resorts on the west of Lanta is the 300-million-baht Twin Lotus Resort and Spa.

Chanok Chaisiri, group director of sales and marketing of The Twin Lotus Hotel Group, said his group would have to spend more than 40 million baht to renovate the property.

The renovation will take about three months and the company expected to resume its services in October, the beginning of the next high season, said Mr Chanok.

Most resort properties on Lanta are on the island's western coast, while on the east coast are mostly communities of local residents and fishermen.

Prasit Poochatwanitkul, chief officer of Koh Lanta district, said there were 110 resort properties in the district, which consists of 53 islands and islets altogether. Four are still closed for renovation.

The rest have fully resumed business, and the occupancy rate has increased from 10% last month to 20%. It is expected that the rate will reach 50% by April, said Mr Prasit.

He is confident once learning that Lanta is now okay to visit, international tourists will return to enjoy the district's charming beach sceneries, undamaged diving sites, and its unique cultural diversity again.

The working group of the Koh Lanta OK campaign last weekend brought a number of representatives from leading inbound travel agents in Bangkok to inspect resorts and tourist attractions in the district, so that they could spread the word among their customers and business partners.

According to Mr Prasit, the district's tourism revenue amounted to about 1.6 billion baht in 2003. Last year before the tsunami, about 200,000 international tourists and 60,000 Thais have visited the resort islands.

There are about 3,200 rooms in the district's 110 resorts. This year, with a few more five-star resorts to be opened, he expects the number of hotel rooms in the district to increase to about 3,500 by the end of the year.