Wither Khao Lak, flourish Khok Kloy What's in a name? Considerable profit, especially if resort promoters include a little poetic license to spice their promotions. A year ago Khao Lak was a name that generated huge profits for both the local and overseas tourism business. It was even an exportable brand with tour operators pushing the Khao Lak official boundary south to just a few kilometres short of Phuket's Sarasin Bridge in order to include a string of unknown beaches.European tourists were none the wiser that the picturesque beach they were staying on was actually Khok Kloy, a good 80 km south of Khao Lak. It was just more convenient and profitable for the tour operator to bundle the unknown Khok Kloy beach under the vastly more popular Khao Lak brand, than attempt to create yet another competing destination. In the aftermath of the tsunami, tour operators have redefined their winter 2005/2006 brochures. Now it's Khok Kloy's turn to hog the headlines in the catalogues, while the few resorts that will reopen in Khao Lak will battle for business at the bottom of the glossy pages. In the competitive beach resort market, Khao Lak has lost its shine in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami. Tour operators may make a token gesture featuring a single hotel, but they are not predicting even a hint of recovery until November 2006. As long as resorts are surrounded by construction sites, European tour operators will recommend other destinations believing a Khao Lak booking could leave them open to compensation claims under European Union consumer law once their customers return. So new resort names emerge, some of them previously labelled under the Khao Lak banner. Khok Kloy with its hot spring resorts and a straight beach that stretches north for several kilometres may just fit the bill for families who are not comfortable returning to Khao Lak. Further north, a resort in Kuraburi could legitimately claim it is not part of the Khao Lak disaster zone. Another hot favourite could be Ko Lanta, far south in Krabi province, that has largely been ignored by tour operators who preferred to offload their customers at Phuket airport for the one-hour transfer north to Khao Lak's beaches. With the exception of some ardent and possibly emotional supporters of Khao Lak's resort business, by and large tour operators are exploring these new resort options. Lanta's tourism has been around for 10 or more years catering mainly to the backpacker market, but with the opening of the five-star Pimalai Resort four years ago, its profile moved up a notch or two. In a similar fashion to the now popular Ao Nang beach near Krabi town, a string of coves along the western shore of Lanta have attracted investors ready to sink between Bt500 million to a billion in five-star resort construction. But Lanta Island remains a paradox. Its beaches are shared by palm-thatched cottages, fishing communities and a smattering of four- and five-star villas. The price range varies from Bt200 for a bed and bathroom squeezed into a primitive A-Frame shack to pool villas where the receptionist quotes Bt20,000 a night without even batting an eyelid. Lanta is moving towards its best ever winter season fuelled by the perception that its west coast resorts escaped the brunt of the tsunami, possibly because they were built higher up the steep hillsides that skirt the bays. There were casualties such as the "Same, Same but Different" resort where the waves swept away flimsy thatched cottages. Windows of stouter pool villas built just a few metres from the high-water mark were blown out at five-star resorts, but today there are no signs of damage, other than the obvious ones _ closed signs nailed to restaurants and shops. Beaches are deserted while local boat and dive shops haven't seen a charter in months. Resort owners are using the lull to give their cottages a coat of paint, believing profitable days are just around the corner. Pimalai Resort's general manager, Franck de Lestapis, who opened the property four years ago, claims Lanta suffered because it was inaccurately identified as a disaster zone. "Most of the west coast resorts escaped with little or no damage from the actual wave, but we have all been badly hit by the dramatic drop in tourist arrivals and negative publicity," he said. Unlike other southern resorts, Lanta was not a major player in the European travel catalogues, but as tour operators look for alternatives to Khao Lak and Phi Phi for the next season, the island is likely to pick up more family-related travel. If there is a drawback for Lanta's 115 resorts and hotels, it must be the logistics of getting there. Lanta is a 95-km drive from Krabi airport. The two-hour transfer by car includes two ferry crossings of 12 minutes and five minutes duration. It can take longer on a busy day when the 10-car ferries struggle to cope with the queue of passenger and commercial vehicles. A new terminal building is under construction at Krabi airport but it will not be open until mid-2006. In the meantime the present building, which must accommodate both arriving and departing passengers on a single level, is so small there is not enough space for THAI to rent a business class lounge. However, Bangkok Airways did secure a lounge squeezed into the space below the escalators, while THAI passengers have to make do with a drink voucher redeemable at a tiny kiosk in the departure lounge. That would be the least of a passenger's worries. Far more significant is the lack of flights. Despite its verbal commitment to Andaman recovery and the trumpeted discounts, THAI reduced its services to Krabi, leaving just three flights a day using its smallest aircraft, the Boeing 737. Bangkok Airways has two flights a day, one via Samui and the other direct from Bangkok. Of course flights are packed and passengers grumble about inconvenient schedules particularly if they are connecting with an international flight. Krabi's token international service comes from Silk Air, but at least its passengers can check their luggage through to flights out of Changi using Singapore Airlines or its partners. This is not possible with the THAI flights to Bangkok. PB Air once flew this route but predictably withdrew once its accountants worked out the cost per flight. That habit has now ended travel agency confidence in the airline's timetable. Krabi province urgently needs a low-cost airline willing to make a long-term commitment to the resorts of both Krabi and Lanta, while delivering the bargains we have come to cherish on other domestic routes. From November to March passenger ferries make the crossing from Krabi town to Lanta Island in two hours. Some resorts including the Pimalai offer a car-boat transfer that is more convenient than driving south along Highway 4 and 4206 to the first ferry point. Two car rental firms, National and Avis, have counters at Krabi airport. The return trip with drives around Lanta island will put no more than 250 km on the clock with a fuel top-up of around Bt500. The two ferries charge Bt70 and Bt50 for a car with driver and Bt10 for each passenger. Mid-scale resort rates range from Bt3,000 to Bt4,000 a night while the five-star resorts charge between Bt5,000 and Bt8,000 a night including breakfast during the peak season. Bangkok Post August 2005 www.bangkokpost.com |