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The Thai Hotel Association has expressed concern over the rising number of hotel rooms on Koh Samui as foreign tourists are likely to move back across the isthmus to the Andaman Sea. Koh Samui became more popular after the 2004 tsunami devastated tourism areas along the Andaman coast.

The completion of the tsunami warning system has brought back confidence to tourists visiting Phuket, Krabi and Phangnga provinces, said Prakit Chinamourpong, the association’s vice-president.

The tourism boom in Samui in the past few years has prompted heavy hotel room expansion on the island. An additional 2,000 to 3,000 rooms are expected in the next three years, up from 10,000 rooms at present.

Hotels this year have felt the pinch as occupancy during the high season, from January to February, was only 60% _ lower than the 80% occupancy rate during the same period last year.

The 60% rate remains good, he said, but further expansion could pose risks.

Apart from an expected saturation of rooms, a lack of flights to Koh Samui is also a major barrier because Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on the island. Samui has no problems with water supply this year, but Mr Prakit said the government should make the proper investments to meet demand in the ensuing years.

The cabinet will consider proposed plans to build either a big or small reservoir, improve existing water resources, build a tunnel from the mainland to Koh Samui worth 700 million baht, or allow the private sector to increase water works installations.

”The current [water] production could meet demand until 2012, based on an 8% increase in the number of tourists,” he said.

Mr Prakit said the room occupancy rate in tourism spots along the Andaman Sea was rising. Hotels in Phuket, Phangnga and Krabi have averaged 80% occupancy.

But occupancy rates in Bangkok in the first two months of this year fell sharply compared to the same period last year, due mainly to the bombings on New Year’s Eve.

THA member hotels in Bangkok now have 7,000 hotel rooms, with an additional 4,000 expected over the next three years, mainly from expansion in the Sukhumvit area to handle increased traffic from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport

Source: Bangkok Post

 

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