TOURIST INVASION
Thailand-China Tourism Association is worried over the security of Chinese visitors in crowded Koh Lan, near Pattaya.
The Thailand-China Tourism Association (TCTA) is worried tourist congestion on Koh Lan will cause security concerns among Chinese visitors.
The number of daily tourist arrivals to the island near Pattaya on a weekday is 5,000 to 7,000, reaching up to 10,000 on a long weekend, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
The full operation of U-tapao airport will draw more charter and regular flights from China, which will worsen the problem on Koh Lan.
TCTA president Ronnarong Cheewin-siriamnuai said the association and representatives from the Chinese embassy in Bangkok recently inspected tourism sites in Pattaya and found the island was very crowded.
“We want related authorities to solve this problem as soon as possible,” he said.
Pattaya mayor Ittipol Khunpluem has closely monitored the problem of congestion. The city has tried to limit visitors to Koh Lan by controlling passenger numbers on boats. Only four companies are allowed to operate ferry services to the island.
“It’s difficult to control the amount of private boats to the island,” Mr Ittipol said.
Deputy mayor Ronakit Ekasingh said he agreed with the TAT’s idea to limit tourist numbers on Koh Lan.
He plans to propose the idea to city hall and organise a meeting with parties such as tourism associations and travel agents to help solve the problem.
Rear Adm Vasinsan Chantavarin, director of U-tapao airport, said Thai AirAsia planned to launch daily flights from U-tapao to Macau, Singapore and Udon Thani on Nov 27.
The airline previously launched direct flights from U-tapao to Nanning and Nanchang, with Malaysian sister AirAsia Bhd starting a service from Kuala Lumpur to U-tapao.
Rear Adm Vasinsan said charter flights to U-tapao had started to recover, particularly from Russia. The number of Russian travellers through U-tapao will be about 40,000 this year but return to normal at 60,000 next year.
U-tapao aims to welcome 250,000 passengers this year. In the last quarter alone, arrivals were 90,000. The airport’s capacity is 870,000 passengers a year but last year it welcomed only 120,000.
About 9.2 million tourists will visit Pattaya this year. The resort city is spending 9 billion baht to develop basic transport and infrastructure to serve future capacity of 15 million visitors.