There is very little impact by the tsunami on the tourist centre of Ao Nang. It appears the shallow beach and the 2 metre wall between beach and beach road have been able to prevent the water from causing too much destruction.
On my arrival in Ao Nang the only signs of the catastrophe were the fence of the beach front Phra Nang Inn, which had apparently been repaired shortly before, and an empty tailor shop right next to it, which also had no more windows. A few days later the shop was back in business. Apart from these examples there is no obvious damage in Ao Nang.
 The most striking sight compared to earlier visits is the lack of longtail boats at the centre section of Ao Nang Beach. Before the tsunami, there were about 400 longtail boats in the area, of which roughly 50 are presently said to be available. I've never seen more than 15 boats at a time while I was there. Damaged boats are repaired and new boats constructed at Nopparat Thara Beach, so their number is rising steadily. The only positive aspect of the wave is that now there are lots of shiny new longtails, which look much more reliable than some of the old rotten models. Sadly, it seems the boatmen so far haven't received any financial support from the Thai government.
The main difference to earlier visits is the obvious lack of tourists. Not only is the beach practically deserted, but also most restaurants in town. Travel agents, souvenir shops and Internet cafes are also almost out of business, and so are the tailor shops, whose touts now are more aggressive than before. The scuba diving shops have also taken a blow, since visitors are afraid of finding debris or other remnants of the wave's impact at the dive sites.
The hotels - all of which are fully operating - are trying to fight the low occupancy of their rooms (<15%) by offering huge discounts.
But also other businesses suffer, which are not even directly related to tourism, such as a language school educating hotel staff in the English language, whose hotel customers cancelled all training because of the low occupancy.
See more photos in the gallery. |
