Koh Larn business recovering

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Gaybutton
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Koh Larn business recovering

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Koh Larn passenger ferry operators say business recovering, primarily from Russian, Indian and Thai tourists

By Adam Judd

February 27, 2020




The Pattaya News reporters visited Bali Hai Pier today and interviewed several ferry boat operators who run passenger ferries between Pattaya and Koh Larn to get their opinions on how business was.

Pattaya has suffered in several tourism markets, including Western foreigners due to the strength of the baht and Chinese foreigners due to the outbreak of a novel Coronavirus. This has caused many local business owners to struggle, especially ones that primarily catered to Chinese tourists.

However, not everyone is struggling.

Mr. Wiraphan Somyot, 28, the operator of the Puangpayom Prasitporn Ferry Company Limited, told reporters that his business was not affected much. He did, however add that small speed boat operators were struggling, especially the ones that only took Chinese tour groups.

He stated that Russian and Eastern European tourists were still coming to the island en masse and that Thai tourists, especially on weekends, were visiting the island in larger numbers as the result of successful domestic tourism promotions and word of mouth that the island was not as crowded with the lack of Chinese.

He also said Indian tourists were steady in the current market.

Our video reporters, as can be seen above, also showed that business at the Bali Hai Pier appeared to be better than several weeks ago when the Coronavirus outbreak began and tour groups were banned.

We interviewed Jomtien Beach Vendors last week who said that the Eastern European business was still very healthy as well. Pattaya Beach operators, however, said business was down significantly.

https://thepattayanews.com/2020/02/27/k ... -tourists/
stkyricesf

Re: Koh Larn business recovering

Post by stkyricesf »

Finally some good news out of Pattaya. No matter what, it's still my favorite destination.
ISAC69

Re: Koh Larn business recovering

Post by ISAC69 »

I took the ferry to Koh Larn last week it was so packed that they booked more ferries than the official schedule, the beaches were packed and all beach vendors were busy .
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Re: Koh Larn business recovering

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ISAC69 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2020 7:07 pm I took the ferry to Koh Larn last week it was so packed that they booked more ferries than the official schedule, the beaches were packed and all beach vendors were busy .
Actually I think that's both good and bad. I'm glad at least that business is still thriving - that's the good. The bad is if you're trying to avoid crowds during this virus threat. Being on a crowded ferry and then a crowded beach and then returning on a crowded ferry - well, that's not exactly avoiding crowds.
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Re: Koh Larn business recovering

Post by Trongpai »

I'm generally quite skeptical of anything in the Pattaya press with officials making statements out of their asses and/or making a press releases in hopes of a self-fulfilling prophecy but in this case from my experience it's true.

I used to go to Kho Larn often and dropped out when the Chinese tour groups arrived in numbers too large to be ignored. On 10 March 2020 the BF and I took the 9 am ferry out of the Bali Hai pier in Pattaya. It changed since I last took this boat. You used to buy tickets in the building facing the long pier, now you buy a ticket just as you get on the boat. Be sure you get on the right boat.

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Lending a helping hand.
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The 9am ferry left at 8:50am. It was pretty full, most everyone had a seat. The passengers were mostly farang and I did not hear anyone speaking anything other than Russian. Some Thai as well. The crossing took 40 min.

There were not a lot of people when we arrived and it was high tide. Lounger seats 100B. Food and drink service not expensive. We had breakfast and it was good.
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By noon the tide was out and the 11am ferry arrived with an over load of passengers.
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It's the perfect beach for swimming. Soft sand bottom, medium deep, calm sea and clean water.

So the important lesson learned was to take the early boat and not the 11am. There were too many people with more standing then seated. I wondered if there were enough life jackets for everyone?
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I first went to Kho Larn back in the late 80 before any development. You had to take one of these boats back then and I was surprised to see that they're still around.
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We only went to Tawaen Beach but there's several other options with songthow or motorbike transport. The others are smaller and with less amenities as far as I can find out. No experience yet but I will explore that option on a future trip.

Overall an excellent way to spend the day in Pattaya.
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Re: Koh Larn business recovering

Post by Trongpai »

Another photo of the Kho Larn cabin boy
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