October 1, 2009
Political stability improves foreign bookings
Tourism industry executives on Koh Samui have said tourism activity is expected to go back on track by summer 2010 as Asian bookings have gone up at the island due to the improved political stability in Thailand.
Senee Phuwasetthaworn, president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui has said tourist numbers from Russia and Middle East are also expected to rise because of stepped-up advertising and budget tourism packages that are offered by Agents. Also currently Operators are seeing increased hotel room reservations from Germany, Eastern Europe, Russia and Scandinavia for January, the busiest month of the high tourism season.
According to Mr Senee, four charter flights with 150 seats each from China Southern Airlines are scheduled to fly to Surat Thani starting from Wednesday. Due to high landing fees the airline is using the Surat Thani provincial airport rather then the traditional Samui airport.
Mr Senee has said “This reflects a new hope for operators as it will be the first time there is a charter flight from China to Surat Thani,”.
The association predicts Samui will get around 1.1 million foreign tourists in 2010, which will make a revenue of 12-13 billion baht.
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Because of the political problems and the global financial crisis, Samui hotel’s have cut room rates and holiday packages up to 30-40% this year to draw in more Tourists.
The government has also set aside a budget of 900 million baht from its 1.4-trillion-baht stimulus programme to build and upgrade roads on the island.
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