Koh Samui Development In Spotlight After Blackout: Tourism

[webfact]

TOURISM

Koh Samui development in spotlight after blackout

BAMRUNG AMNATCHAROENRIT,

SUWANEE BANDIDSAK

THE NATION

KOH SAMUI: -- Following the latest power failure on Samui, tourism operators yesterday demanded the development of a resilient infrastructure framework that will maintain the resort island's fame as a world-class visitor destination.

"It's time the private and public sectors work together for its sustainable development," said Piyamarn Techapaibul, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand.

The blackout struck at around 8am on Tuesday reportedly when a short circuit crippled the main transmission line carrying electricity from Nakhon Si Thammarat on the mainland to Samui and nearby Pha-ngan Island. The repair work had been expected to be completed on Wednesday night.

Surat Thani assistant governor Siripat Pattanakul said the restoration operation would be finished later last night and electricity would be restored throughout the island soon afterwards.

Piyamarn said the power outage was a good lesson. Tourism development nationwide must go hand in hand with infrastructure development. Samui should be a model, but its development has proceeded without direction. Especially utilities, both water and electricity, are insufficient to serve population growth.

For example, 10,000 rooms were estimated to be needed to serve the island, but now that figure has doubled, she said.

Thirayuth Chirathivat, CEO of Centara Hotels and Resorts, also called for the problems to be fixed, especially regarding water supply. His three hotels on Samui have faced shortages several times. Piyamarn said the immediate damage to tourism was slight. New York City also faced the same kind of power interruption.

Business was running as usual. The airport was still open and hotels from five to lower stars have survived without facing serious trouble. Especially the small and medium-sized inns and guesthouses have offered special services to make their guests relax.

Thirayuth said the impact on his business has not been significant, thanks to generators installed.

Authorities in Surat Thani yesterday declared as disaster zones the two districts that have been suffering from blackouts since Tuesday. Surat Thani Governor Chatpong Chataputi announced the decision as he set out to inspect the situation in Koh Samui and Koh Pha-ngan in the morning.

The decision enables the provincial authority to use its emergency budget of Bt50 million, which will be used to buy necessary supplies, particularly petrol, for affected people.

Meanwhile Senee Puwasettatha-vorn, president of the Tourism Council of Surat Thani, said about 20 per cent of tourism on the islands was affected by the blackout.

Meanwhile Koh Samui and Koh Phangan hospitals issued statements that they are not affected by the blackouts as they have sufficient petrol to operate the spare power generators.

Vara Chanchow, director of the Provincial Electricity Authority, Region 2, in the South said the PEA had planned to install an additional power cable line to Pha-ngan and Koh Toa. The cable line ordered from Norway was to arrive on December 9 but the blackout happened abruptly. The installation of this back-up cable line will be finished next February.

Panu Woramit, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's South office, said that due to the low season, 50 per cent of Samui hotel rooms were occupied and standard-level hotels have their own generators, so the incident has slightly affected the tourism industry on the island.According to Bangkok Airways Head Office release yesterday, Samui Airport remains open with normal operation from 6am to 10pm.

-- The Nation 2012-12-07

[sandrabbit]

Imagine this happening during a full moon party and thousands of drunken tourists reacting to the loss of their entertainment.

[carmine]

There is a saying "the horse has bolted" which seems quite apt at the moment.

[animatic]

Well taking the Phagnan and Tao load off of the Samui lines will help,

but there is more to do than just this.

[stiggy]

There is currently no Line to Tao its all generators.

[FalangBaa]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

[smutcakes]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

I disagree, but i suppose its all subjective. Personally i think Hua Hin is a world class destination. Lovely hotels, beaches, relatively quiet and lots of nice golf courses.

[h90]

Imagine this happening during a full moon party and thousands of drunken tourists reacting to the loss of their entertainment.

since when does the funny tobacco need electric?

[h90]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

But it has good hotels and it has nice beaches....at least it had 10 years ago.

[samuijimmy]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

Rubbish!!!

[FarangTalk]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch. The most unfriendly people in Thailand IMO.

They had ruined whatever made it 'World class' early last decade, the last time I visited in 2005 the place was already an over-developed mess. I dread to think of what it has become now.

[ydraw]

Nobody cares what you think, Farangtalk.

[lemoncake]

Not sure if they used the stock photo, but if the underwater cable was damaged, why are they doing work on the electrical lines?(as in the photo)

[robsamui]

Imagine this happening during a full moon party and thousands of drunken tourists reacting to the loss of their entertainment.

Drunken? What full moon party you on about, then! Can't be the one across there. No eleccy and they'd just carry on hugging.

R

[robsamui]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

Dunno what tree you've been living up but just Google "top beach holiday destinations". Samui is in every top 20 - mostly in the top 10.

R

[robertson468]

Apart from the obvious that we did not have electric for three days (or four depending how you count), I was quite amazed at the very slow response by both local and national authorities to come to the aid of both Islands in the way of time taken to carry out the repair, supply of water, feeding (for those not living in hotels etc) and generally an emergency service contingency plan with a dedicated committee. Passage of information was abysmal with information being put out on TV to Thai Channels, completely overlooking the thousands of foreigners who live and work here. Because there was so little authoritative information available, "rumour control" went into top gear. This varied from repaired tomorrow to getting repaired in 10 days time, a submarine had broken the cable, the cable was underground on Koh Samui and so on. Simple solution was to employ some of these pick-ups driving around with loud speakers which could have given out the official announcement in Thai and English. God help us if we suffer something like a typhoon!!

[jcb2001]

Nobody cares what you think, Farangtalk.

What are you talking about? He spoke quite truthfully.

[robsamui]

Apart from the obvious that we did not have electric for three days (or four depending how you count), I was quite amazed at the very slow response by both local and national authorities to come to the aid of both Islands in the way of time taken to carry out the repair, supply of water, feeding (for those not living in hotels etc) and generally an emergency service contingency plan with a dedicated committee. Passage of information was abysmal with information being put out on TV to Thai Channels, completely overlooking the thousands of foreigners who live and work here. Because there was so little authoritative information available, "rumour control" went into top gear. This varied from repaired tomorrow to getting repaired in 10 days time, a submarine had broken the cable, the cable was underground on Koh Samui and so on. Simple solution was to employ some of these pick-ups driving around with loud speakers which could have given out the official announcement in Thai and English. God help us if we suffer something like a typhoon!!

Thumbs-up on this one and blo*dy right!

But then farangs are an irritating white minority who have no rights here and will all be 'gone back to own country' in a day or so - aren't they!

(That's how it seems when elections are timed for the edge of Christmas, none of the promos on UBC or AIS bills are in English, 12-Call text messages are in Thai only, none of the superstores realise they have farang customers as all their leaflets are in Thai only, the police make you sign statements in a language you can't read, and TV broadcasts about national emergencies that affect thousands of English-speaking people are only in a foreign language. And that's for starters . . .

You're quite right to wonder what would happen if there was a real disaster here . . .

R

[monkeycountry]

What is the biggest tourist attraction on Samui?

Answer: Chaweng Beach (and the sea), followed by the other main beaches (without these, there would be no tourists at all).

What is being done to maintain the beaches and the sea and what is the budget?

Answer: Nothing at all and zero. (except for some resorts who choose to clean the beach in front of themselves - which is good)

The toilet from my house, and all the neighbouring houses, runs straight into the klong running through Chaweng (no septic tanks), and that klong runs straight into the sea between Chaweng and Chaweng Noi. That is most likely why the water in the klong is always black and stinks and why the sea quite often has a slightly brown color and is filled with floating stuff.

Forget improving the roads, the lake and all the other infrastructure improvements. Unless Chaweng and other beaches get a working sewage treatment plant, there will eventually be no tourists left to use all the other infrastructure!

[monkeycountry]

Apart from the obvious that we did not have electric for three days (or four depending how you count), I was quite amazed at the very slow response by both local and national authorities to come to the aid of both Islands in the way of time taken to carry out the repair, supply of water, feeding (for those not living in hotels etc) and generally an emergency service contingency plan with a dedicated committee. Passage of information was abysmal with information being put out on TV to Thai Channels, completely overlooking the thousands of foreigners who live and work here. Because there was so little authoritative information available, "rumour control" went into top gear. This varied from repaired tomorrow to getting repaired in 10 days time, a submarine had broken the cable, the cable was underground on Koh Samui and so on. Simple solution was to employ some of these pick-ups driving around with loud speakers which could have given out the official announcement in Thai and English. God help us if we suffer something like a typhoon!!

Funniest part was that information was published via television to people without electricity :-D

[notmyself]

a submarine had broken the cable

Oops, that could have been me.

[OzMick]

The nice gentleman should realise that the reason most of the hotels have generators is because the supply is generally <deleted>. Extended (as in hours) blackouts are quite common, and I have set up our house with an LED/battery set up in response.

BTW any decent size stand-by generator would be diesel, not petrol.

[spidermark]

Surat Than governor visits Samui after blackout ends, to ensure he can get hot coffee. Can you imagine this creton having the nerve not being on the ground the entire time? Does absent during a crisis even begin to cover him or little yingluck? Both should be immediately reprimanded or worse.

Mike Macarelli

Chaiyaphum, Thailand

Sent from my Samsung SIII

[kevvy]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

Rubbish!!!

yeah plenty of it around the town

[Beng]

How does Koh Samui have "fame as a world-class visitor destination"? There are no tourist destinations in Thailand that are world class. Koh Samui has virtually no infrastructure at all.

Very true indeed.

[Beng]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch. The most unfriendly people in Thailand IMO.

They had ruined whatever made it 'World class' early last decade, the last time I visited in 2005 the place was already an over-developed mess. I dread to think of what it has become now.

.....and what a beautiful place it once was.

[samuibruno]

bangkok was nice once also when they rode around on elephants

[samuibruno]

first the power goes off [pretty much normal on samui ]

then all tourists are leaving [only 1000 left by one report]

then its a blackout

after that samui is declared a disaster area

now we are in the development spotlight??????

things are definitely looking up then

maybe we should have another disaster next week

dont you just love the media

[PoorSucker]

The toilet from my house, and all the neighbouring houses, runs straight into the klong running through Chaweng (no septic tanks), and that klong runs straight into the sea between Chaweng and Chaweng Noi. That is most likely why the water in the klong is always black and stinks and why the sea quite often has a slightly brown color and is filled with floating stuff.

I live at south Chaweng and never seen what you describe.

[whybother]

Electricity is back on. Everything is OK. All is forgotten now.