Samui makes tourism gains

SAMUI, 5 September 2012: Samui achieved a double digit growth in arrivals for the first half of this year mainly due to an increase in airline services from ASEAN neighbours.

In its most recent report on the tourist island, released Tuesday, C9 Hotelworks said tourism had enjoyed a 16% growth in the first half of the year.

Most of the increase came from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong where there was a 23% growth in flights this year. The increase in international flights gave the island a 26% growth  in international arrivals, while domestic arrivals improved 15%.

Samui Airport welcomed 455,778 passengers; of which, 92% travelled on domestic flights. The top supply markets were the United States, Germany, Thailand and the eastern European.

Currently Samui Airport can handle up to 36 flights daily from 0600 to 2200. Four airlines serve the island; Bangkok Airways, Thai International Airways, Silk Air and Firefly. The airport is now handling some charter  flights from southern China, but there are limitations on the number of flights that can land.

Hotel occupancy stood at 67% up from 59%. The upscale segment was the top performer with a 73% occupancy, followed by midscale and luxury hotels at 69% and 59% respectively. However, the report pointed out that the island lacked low-cost airlines, which resulted in a slow performance of budget and economy hotels that achieved an occupancy of 52%.

Length of stay increased to 5.5 days from 4.8 days, but the overall daily rate was down 1% to US$144. There was a 12% surge in revenue per available room attributed to occupancy growth.

As for the future the report noted that a potential new airport on the mainland, would help increase direct international flights.

Earlier, TTR Weekly reported there are plans to build a new airport at Don Sak in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, close to the ferry pier. Currently the new airport project has been approved in principle, but it will still require a feasibility study of the Don Sak proposal and that could take another year to complete.

Samui Airport opened in 1989 and is owned by Bangkok Airways. The airport is located 2 km away from the island’s most popular beach, Chaweng. The airport is restricted to just 36 flights a day with an airline seat capacity of around 3,000. There are 19,000 rooms on the island.

Sourced: ttrweekly