LMS Objectives
The primary objective of LMS is to offer marine services to the yachting community in the form of secure moorings for storage of boats while their owners are absent, and associated services for those boats. In addition we aim to improve the facilities offered by Lanta Old Town to visiting yachts and promote eco-friendly marine tourism in the surrounding area.
Having decided that Ko Lanta is the ideal place for yacht storage moorings I hadto address the practical issues of setting the project in motion, and a lot of careful thought about what yacht owners want.
First and foremost I had to consider the local people. Lanta Old Town has been in existence for more than 150 years (see section on Old Town), and many of the present residents are descendants of the original settlers. Things have changed here over the years, the original settlers were Chinese merchants, trading with the goods supplied by junks en-route to Phuket or Penang. More recently, tourism has become the main income for the island, but mainly on the west coast and Old Town has become a bit of a ‘living museum’, with a good flow of tourist day trippers during the ‘high’ season. Having a large number of yachts parked outside your back door is a considerable change!
I decided that the best way forward was to ensure that the local people would benefit from the moorings and set about making them ‘partners’ in the project. LMS have worked with the local authorities from the beginning and they have been the driving force in gaining the very many authorizations needed to proceed. A significant part of the fees collected from moored yachts is passed on to the local community via the local authorities and some of this money will be spent on improving facilities within the marine environment. This will benefit people from Old Town and the nearby island of Ko Por which has a population of about 450 people. Improvements to the pier in the form of landing docks will benefit all who use it; locals using the ferry between old town and Ko Por, tourists using the longtails to go on island visits, the longtail taxis, other tour operators, and of course, visiting yachts. As the number of yachts increases LMS will be offering secure, long term employment and training for local people, and local business’ will benefit too.
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