More Tourists About !

[insertmembernamehere]

I can say for sure that things are very quiet in Lamai now. Last year at this time there were so many people that in the evening, the beach road was in effect a walking street. You could hardly find a place to park your bike by the Outback Bar for all the scooters....now it's all clear.

All the "real life" indicators that we use to gauge such things are showing that this "high" season must be the worst for years.

No one could possibly say that there are "more tourists about" this year at this time compared to last year. Not now anyway.

If this is the high tide of tourists, I wonder how the rest of the year will be?

[Tropicalevo]

I can say for sure that things are very quiet in Lamai now. Last year at this time there were so many people that in the evening, the beach road was in effect a walking street. You could hardly find a place to park your bike by the Outback Bar for all the scooters....now it's all clear.

All the "real life" indicators that we use to gauge such things are showing that this "high" season must be the worst for years.

No one could possibly say that there are "more tourists about" this year at this time compared to last year. Not now anyway.

If this is the high tide of tourists, I wonder how the rest of the year will be?

From what I have seen it is pretty busy up the north end of the island.

Traffic is crazy and you cannot get a rental car for love nor money.

Drove along Choengmon road a few days ago - stopped counting motorbikes when I hit 200! and that was in 500 meters. Admittedly some were rental ones parked up but crikey, you could not see the pavement for bikes in places.

Every villa where I live is occupied with multiple turnovers over the Christmas/New year.

[Mr lamai]

Not much people at all and even the bargals have fleed the island. I do feel pity for the investors but i also bear in mind that its the investor who makes the choise to cash up.

A family of 2+2 who buy the full package of flights and hotel nights will simply not pay the 6-700€ surcharge compaired to other destinations in Thailand. The companies in Europe knows this and they promote Phuket and Krabi where its "cheap" to ship their customers.

Unless Bangkokair drasticly (and i think they will do ) reduce their pricepolicy then Koh samui will turn to a ghostisland with many empty shady concrete buildings and just a few leftover lads hanging around the 3 7-eleven shops left,1 in chaweng and 2 in lamai, looking for cheap beer.

Cheers and marry christmas

[smokie36]

Not much people at all and even the bargals have fleed the island. I do feel pity for the investors but i also bear in mind that its the investor who makes the choise to cash up.

A family of 2+2 who buy the full package of flights and hotel nights will simply not pay the 6-700€ surcharge compaired to other destinations in Thailand. The companies in Europe knows this and they promote Phuket and Krabi where its "cheap" to ship their customers.

Unless Bangkokair drasticly (and i think they will do ) reduce their pricepolicy then Koh samui will turn to a ghostisland with many empty shady concrete buildings and just a few leftover lads hanging around the 3 7-eleven shops left,1 in chaweng and 2 in lamai, looking for cheap beer.

Cheers and marry christmas

Good post. The flights are near full....but usually you can't get one at all by now.

[insertmembernamehere]

Well, I don't know about the north of the island, but down here it is definitely not your normal December.

[smokie36]

What's going on with this bloody forum? Posts turn up in the wrong thread!!

Edited December 24, 2011 by smokie36

[insertmembernamehere]

Some bugs in the new php setup?

Edited December 24, 2011 by insertmembernamehere

[Mr lamai]

Not much people at all and even the bargals have fleed the island. I do feel pity for the investors but i also bear in mind that its the investor who makes the choise to cash up.

A family of 2+2 who buy the full package of flights and hotel nights will simply not pay the 6-700€ surcharge compaired to other destinations in Thailand. The companies in Europe knows this and they promote Phuket and Krabi where its "cheap" to ship their customers.

Unless Bangkokair drasticly (and i think they will do ) reduce their pricepolicy then Koh samui will turn to a ghostisland with many empty shady concrete buildings and just a few leftover lads hanging around the 3 7-eleven shops left,1 in chaweng and 2 in lamai, looking for cheap beer.

Cheers and marry christmas

Good post. The flights are near full....but usually you can't get one at all by now.

5-6 fewer daily bkk-usm-bkk flights than previous year. Mid dec you could book a seat on EACH flight the next day and when i checked around 6pm you could go to bkk on 3 flights and to samui on 2 flights that evening. Big lol at your comedian post.

Happy holliday lifeguardbunny

Edit 1307 Dec 24 Tomorrow there are seats avaible on 10 flights bkk-usm best price 3690bt on 7 am flight

Edited December 24, 2011 by Mr lamai

[smokie36]

Not much people at all and even the bargals have fleed the island. I do feel pity for the investors but i also bear in mind that its the investor who makes the choise to cash up.

A family of 2+2 who buy the full package of flights and hotel nights will simply not pay the 6-700€ surcharge compaired to other destinations in Thailand. The companies in Europe knows this and they promote Phuket and Krabi where its "cheap" to ship their customers.

Unless Bangkokair drasticly (and i think they will do ) reduce their pricepolicy then Koh samui will turn to a ghostisland with many empty shady concrete buildings and just a few leftover lads hanging around the 3 7-eleven shops left,1 in chaweng and 2 in lamai, looking for cheap beer.

Cheers and marry christmas

Good post. The flights are near full....but usually you can't get one at all by now.

5-6 fewer daily bkk-usm-bkk flights than previous year. Mid dec you could book a seat on EACH flight the next day and when i checked around 6pm you could go to bkk on 3 flights and to samui on 2 flights that evening. Big lol at your comedian post.

Happy holliday lifeguardbunny

Edit 1307 Dec 24 Tomorrow there are seats avaible on 10 flights bkk-usm best price 3690bt on 7 am flight

I'm not sure why you describe it as a comedian post but I can tell you that all of the places are quieter this year. Folks just don't have the money for expensive trips to SEA at the moment.

As said before usually you have to wait a week for a plane at this time of year...not now on any route.

[BlackWolf]

This morning I walked Chaweng Noi beach and I have never ever seen so few people there at Cristmas time, 24. December.

[Mr lamai]

Not much people at all and even the bargals have fleed the island. I do feel pity for the investors but i also bear in mind that its the investor who makes the choise to cash up.

A family of 2+2 who buy the full package of flights and hotel nights will simply not pay the 6-700€ surcharge compaired to other destinations in Thailand. The companies in Europe knows this and they promote Phuket and Krabi where its "cheap" to ship their customers.

Unless Bangkokair drasticly (and i think they will do ) reduce their pricepolicy then Koh samui will turn to a ghostisland with many empty shady concrete buildings and just a few leftover lads hanging around the 3 7-eleven shops left,1 in chaweng and 2 in lamai, looking for cheap beer.

Cheers and marry christmas

Good post. The flights are near full....but usually you can't get one at all by now.

5-6 fewer daily bkk-usm-bkk flights than previous year. Mid dec you could book a seat on EACH flight the next day and when i checked around 6pm you could go to bkk on 3 flights and to samui on 2 flights that evening. Big lol at your comedian post.

Happy holliday lifeguardbunny

Edit 1307 Dec 24 Tomorrow there are seats avaible on 10 flights bkk-usm best price 3690bt on 7 am flight

I'm not sure why you describe it as a comedian post but I can tell you that all of the places are quieter this year. Folks just don't have the money for expensive trips to SEA at the moment.

As said before usually you have to wait a week for a plane at this time of year...not now on any route.

Sorry i missread your post. All good mate

[Boater]

Not much people at all and even the bargals have fleed the island. I do feel pity for the investors but i also bear in mind that its the investor who makes the choise to cash up.

A family of 2+2 who buy the full package of flights and hotel nights will simply not pay the 6-700€ surcharge compaired to other destinations in Thailand. The companies in Europe knows this and they promote Phuket and Krabi where its "cheap" to ship their customers.

Unless Bangkokair drasticly (and i think they will do ) reduce their pricepolicy then Koh samui will turn to a ghostisland with many empty shady concrete buildings and just a few leftover lads hanging around the 3 7-eleven shops left,1 in chaweng and 2 in lamai, looking for cheap beer.

Cheers and marry christmas

Good post. The flights are near full....but usually you can't get one at all by now.

5-6 fewer daily bkk-usm-bkk flights than previous year. Mid dec you could book a seat on EACH flight the next day and when i checked around 6pm you could go to bkk on 3 flights and to samui on 2 flights that evening. Big lol at your comedian post.

Happy holliday lifeguardbunny

Edit 1307 Dec 24 Tomorrow there are seats avaible on 10 flights bkk-usm best price 3690bt on 7 am flight

I'm not sure why you describe it as a comedian post but I can tell you that all of the places are quieter this year. Folks just don't have the money for expensive trips to SEA at the moment.

As said before usually you have to wait a week for a plane at this time of year...not now on any route.

as smokie mentioned above, there are just so many deals on offer, and people are not prepared to pay full price anymore !,

there is no real deals to be had on samui , and with the price of flights to the island, this is putting people off

The TOT samui needs to come up with a plan soon

[Rooo]

You mean TAT or their Samui equivalent Boater, Tot has nothing to do with it.

[angiud]

Koh Phangan is almost full (say 70% of the capacity). Going to be completely full around new year eve

[BookMan]

bad news for businesses there... but on a purely selfish level, when i travel to Samui, i prefer not having too many other tourists about

[MarkyM3]

Just back in UK after 3.5 weeks based in Lamai. I've been going to Samui twice a year since 2005 and I would say it's the quietest I've seen it. The Outback Bar and Fusion were dead on quite a few nights. Considering Supersub is now gone, Fusion should be full every night.

Things seemed to be picking up a bit in the run in to Christmas but not by a huge amount. Price rises, exchange rates and recession in Europe must be all playing a role. The resort I was staying at (midrange) was basically empty for quite a while (this place is usually well occupied) and same applied to other places my friends were staying at.

Not looking promising.

Edited December 24, 2011 by MarkyM3

[Boater]

You mean TAT or their Samui equivalent Boater, Tot has nothing to do with it.

opps , yes i did mean the TAT, but both the TAT and TOT are probably about as usefull as each other when getting tourists here

[maccaroni man]

i thought it was quiet too but then i spoke to a friend who tracks his daily business sales for the lasty 5 yrs he is seeing a normal trend with business beginning to pick up on the 18th and climbing daily. my guess is there are more rooms and more deals to be had spread over the island so the number may be the same but the guest are not found in clusters as before. As for the post that said the bar girls are leaving, i have seen just the opposite in chewang ther are many new girls on the scene.

[Tropicalevo]

i thought it was quiet too but then i spoke to a friend who tracks his daily business sales for the lasty 5 yrs he is seeing a normal trend with business beginning to pick up on the 18th and climbing daily. my guess is there are more rooms and more deals to be had spread over the island so the number may be the same but the guest are not found in clusters as before. As for the post that said the bar girls are leaving, i have seen just the opposite in chewang ther are many new girls on the scene.

Good point about the hotels. We have more than twice the rooms that we did a couple of years ago, and who knows how many more private villas there are now? (12 years ago I could not find a decent sized house to rent. Now you fall over them when you walk down any street.)

I think that the tourist's spending pattern has changed too. More private villas - lots of choice and loads of deals.

On the hotel side, even if we had the same number of tourists this year as we did last year, everyone's % occupancy has to be down. We cannot increase the number of flights. That is why the hotel guys want a second airport.

Dream on.

Anyway, if it is so quiet on the island, why am I so <deleted> busy?

PS - flights every night after 11 pm. Another one just come in

Edited December 24, 2011 by Tropicalevo

[BigC]

what u see with your eyes might not be what is true. Many people or not. I cannpt book anyway for 1 month because everywhere is FULL.

that is a fact.

toursits are like birds and deer. they migrate with the climate.

As my mates used to say when i had a rowl wid me misses. " you'll be back !"

same goes for the t.rists !!

[BangrakBob]

Just back in UK after 3.5 weeks based in Lamai. I've been going to Samui twice a year since 2005 and I would say it's the quietest I've seen it. The Outback Bar and Fusion were dead on quite a few nights. Considering Supersub is now gone, Fusion should be full every night.

So you were here in low season, the quietest time of the year and it was quiet, amazing

[NHJ]

been out all night yesterday, it was the quiest christmas eve i ever saw in here, clubs were not even packed.

[insertmembernamehere]

Oddly enough, what a difference a day makes. Seems like everyone came today.

[BigC]

Just back in UK after 3.5 weeks based in Lamai. I've been going to Samui twice a year since 2005 and I would say it's the quietest I've seen it. The Outback Bar and Fusion were dead on quite a few nights. Considering Supersub is now gone, Fusion should be full every night.

So you were here in low season, the quietest time of the year and it was quiet, amazing

so i am azuming that you are asuming that everyone that comes to samui heads stragiht down the local clubs and the families and the 5 star hotels an people who rent villas that are fully booked cannot be in samui because the clubs are not full.

could it be that there is more to offer tourists hear now than getting out yr nut at the local clubs and bars.

Maybe the back backers that mostly occupy these places have moved on and now we have have respectable hard core mafia hear now and we kiow how 2 run tings. rpctect!

[BigC]

been out all night yesterday, it was the quiest christmas eve i ever saw in here, clubs were not even packed.

could it be that santa had tied everyone up and held us hostage to the bar and clun owners?

[beach04]

Well, this year I changed coast, flighing to Phuket is definitively cheaper than to Samui but you do not have lounge, pay for baggage and if you miss fly ticket is toilet paper, so BKK Airways has some plus.

I went north to Khao Lak, price even higher than Lamai, place totally dead TODAY....

Resort prices needs to go down and euro needs to go up, or next year even less people,myself included. Some 5* here cost in a weekend like a week at carabbean flight included....

[BookMan]

Well, this year I changed coast, flighing to Phuket is definitively cheaper than to Samui but you do not have lounge, pay for baggage and if you miss fly ticket is toilet paper, so BKK Airways has some plus.

I went north to Khao Lak, price even higher than Lamai, place totally dead TODAY....

Resort prices needs to go down and euro needs to go up, or next year even less people,myself included. Some 5* here cost in a weekend like a week at carabbean flight included....

This post was in the general new forum 15 minutes back......

[start quote]

Posted 13 minutes ago

johnsuma, on Today, 17:38 , said:

ATTN: Nicky 1982.

That fact perhaps save your life, be greatfull and go to another sunny place...

Already change my mind also was going to go to Koh Samui but fully booked looks like i'm going to Koh Samet ...

[end quote]

[Birdman]

so? what was fully booked? flights? a hotel? trains?

[BookMan]

so? what was fully booked? flights? a hotel? trains?

well i doubt it was trains

[Birdman]

why is that? there are combi train/bus/ferry tickets to Samui since decades. Never mind, going to Samet is anyhow better than going to Koh Si Chang.