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| Amazingly awesome Sunset in Koh Samui Photo Courtesy thailandislandtravel.blogspot.com |
Propelled by additional
international flights and upgraded aircraft coming in, the travel industry in
Koh Samui island, a popular tourist destination in Thailand, showed substantial
improvement last year, as per indicators from C9 Hotelworks, a consulting firm.
Its analysis of tourist bookings in 2012 revealed that the island’s hotel
occupancy rate stood at a record high of 68% which is significantly above the
59% clip recorded in 2011.
According to Bill Barnett,
C9 managing director, the uptick in Koh Samui hotel occupancy is traceable to
the ongoing fleet upgrade of Bangkok Airways for its flights bound for the
island. With this move, over 189,000 airline seats annually are being made
available for island-bound tourists.
New urban offerings
There are other factors
which can further stimulate tourist inflow into Koh Samui, Barnett added. Local
tourist facilities, like the ShaSa Resort at the island’s southern tip, will
likely derive benefit from the 48,000-square-metre shopping complex being
developed by the Central Group. Island projects such as these will bring in
more urban offerings and, in the process, draw more Asian middle class
visitors.
At present, the pristine
white beaches of Koh Samui and water-based leisure activities are the primary
drivers to its tourism industry in. Its profile of visitors is generally of
European origin, principally Germany and the UK. Domestic tourists or those
from other parts of Thailand constitute another important segment of the island’s
travel industry market. These locals, combined with the Germans and the
British, account for 27% of tourist arrivals in Koh Samui in 2012.
Notably, the island’s
guests from the Russian Federation are also poised to grow in significance too.
Last year, these tourists accounted for 15% of the total visitors in Phu Ket,
another Thai tourist hub.
Meeting power demand
It is likewise notable
that tourist industry players are laying the groundwork for the further influx
of foreign visitors. For accommodations, 459 new rooms are set to be added to
the current 17,479 rooms in the next two years.
Also, a new power
distribution station has been opened, thereby addressing the issue of power
blackouts which hit Koh Samui late last year to the detriment of the travel
trade. This new station will be served by a 54-kilometre power cable from a
generator in the mainland. All in all, this project costs 4.2 billion baht and
will not only benefit Koh Samui but also its neighboring Koh Phangan. This
facility can reportedly provide the power capacity sufficient enough to meet
the local demand for the next ten years.
