Surat Thani's Pha-ngan Island attracts many more foreigners than Koh Samui for countdown

SURAT THANI, 1 January 2015 (NNT) – Tourists have visited Surat Thani province in droves for the countdown to the new year, with 500 million baht expected to be in circulation on Pha-ngan Island during the New Year's holiday period.

Seats on all ferries and speedboats shuttling tourists to Suratthani's Pha-ngan and Samui islands were completely occupied on Wednesday. Bunsiri Diaowanit, director of Raja Ferry Port Plc.,the number of foreign tourists heading to Pha-ngan Island is greater than in any other year due to the promise of numerous New Year's celebrations on the island. The number of ferry and speedboat trips have been appropriately increased. He said around 80% of foreign passengers were heading to Pha-ngan Island whereas most Thai tourists were crossing over to Samui Island.

The main countdown event is held on Hat Rin Beach, the same beach that hosts the island's famed full moon parties, said Wanni Thaiphanit, president of the tourism promotion association on Pha-ngan Island, Attractions include a Miss Bikini contest, a body painting contest and beach parties. 50,000 tourists are expected to join in the New Year's festivities, whereas 500 million baht is expected to be circulated on the island during the New Year's period.

-- NNT 2015-01-01

It's the call of *cough* drugs *cough*!I meant nature. Sorry about that! :-)

I guess prices will be raised now ?

I guess prices will be raised now ?

On the 30th i checked a couple of the booking websites to see what was left available. It was common to see a bed in a 4-16 bed dorm listed at 2000 baht for the night. One place (in Haad Rin) had a bed for 10000 baht per night. The only hotel rooms that were left were 20k-42k and mostly 2 star. So yes crazy prices

I guess prices will be raised now ?

On the 30th i checked a couple of the booking websites to see what was left available. It was common to see a bed in a 4-16 bed dorm listed at 2000 baht for the night. One place (in Haad Rin) had a bed for 10000 baht per night. The only hotel rooms that were left were 20k-42k and mostly 2 star. So yes crazy prices

i guess they need to get all their scamming done between dec 24 and jan 2 because there isn't going to be anyone around to rip off for the rest of the year.

I guess prices will be raised now ?

On the 30th i checked a couple of the booking websites to see what was left available. It was common to see a bed in a 4-16 bed dorm listed at 2000 baht for the night. One place (in Haad Rin) had a bed for 10000 baht per night. The only hotel rooms that were left were 20k-42k and mostly 2 star. So yes crazy prices

I would sleep in the forest before handing over 42,000 baht to a Thai hotel pirate! That is the definition of insanity.

I guess prices will be raised now ?

My experience of Samui is that they raise the prices when they have no tourist. Not when they have them.

In my opinion this is one of the reasons they have lost tourism to other resorts such as Pattaya where it is still cheap.

There's no such thing as a 42k room. Most hotels in Haadrin have a minimum stay of 5 nights during full moon and as many as 10 nights during new year. You can order 1 night if you like but you'll still be charged for all 5 or 10 nights.

There's no such thing as a 42k room. Most hotels in Haadrin have a minimum stay of 5 nights during full moon and as many as 10 nights during new year. You can order 1 night if you like but you'll still be charged for all 5 or 10 nights.

The 42k per night room was inland from Thongsala.

As I said I was using some of the major booking websites to look at prices for 1 night only, if the hotel had a minimum stay it would not have been included in my results. If you walked into the hotel/hostel, yes they would have let you stay for 1 night if you paid for 3/5/10/1000 nights but what I was looking at was the price they were willing to take for a stay of exactly 1 night.