The small island of Koh Lan, just a 15 minute ferry ride from Pattaya, is the natural choice for people that actually want to swim in the ocean when visiting the seaside resort city.
For food, drinks, nightlife, and epic people-watching, nothing beats Pattaya — but its beaches are far from pristine. But, just a few miles away on Koh Lan, swimmers can enjoy the beautiful blue water, and white sand beaches that the Thai islands are known for.
Because so many tourists disembark there each day to soak up the sun, eat snacks, and drink beer before getting the last ferry back to the mainland, they don’t tend to spend much on the island. That’s why officials are considering imposing a fee to visit the daytime destination to help with garbage removal, an overloaded sewage system, and other infrastructure woes, according to Pattaya Mail.
City Council Chairman Anan Ankanawisan broached the issue during a Feb. 23 meeting and was backed up by Councilman Choluek Chotekamjorn, who proposed a nominal fee of between THB20-100 per person.
Currently, to pay for these infrastructure needs, the island depends on a small budget allocated by mainland Pattaya that often falls short of the island’s needs.
Choluek pointed out that other famous tourist beaches charge a fee for this purpose, such as the Phi Phi and Similan Islands, but someone else mentioned that those are national parks, which Koh Lan isn’t.
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