Koh Samui is being transformed from an expensive destination for foreign tourists into an affordable, high-end place for Thai holiday-makers.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Bangkok Airways jointly introduced attractive tour packages to Koh Samui with prices starting from 7,500 baht for air tickets, accommodation and airport limousine service two months ago. Half-day optional tour packages are also available for tourists until November.
The TAT also plans to follow up with the launch of the "Luxperience at Samui" campaign in October to woo more Thai tourists who want to experience the high-end tourism products and services of Koh Samui.
The new campaign is expected to stimulate domestic trips among Thais for the rest of the year, with highlights including the full moon party on Koh Phangan and top hotels on Koh Samui.
Narin Tijayang, assistant director of TAT's Koh Samui office, said Thai tourists represent a small percentage of visitors to Koh Samui, with 85% of them being foreigners, mainly Germans and Chinese.
The campaigns to increase the number of Thai visitors is part of the TAT's attempts to expand the local tourist market. It further aims to reduce Thai tourism's dependence on foreign visitors.
The TAT expects the two campaigns will increase the proportion of Thai visitors to 25% this year from 15% last year. The TAT predicts the number of visitors to Koh Samui will rise by 20% to 3 million this year, driven mainly by the growth of Thai travellers and tourism promotion events on Koh Samui and nearby Koh Tao and Koh Phangan.
Apart from stimulating the local tourist market, the TAT also plans to attract Japanese travellers back to Koh Samui after a decade of low arrivals.
Mr Narin said the TAT learned that Japanese visitors had disappeared from Koh Samui because of expensive air tickets stemming from a code-sharing agreement between Japan Airlines and Bangkok Airways. The high air fares made the price of tour packages to Koh Samui 40% more expensive than packages to Phuket. Moreover, Japanese travel agents are not keen to promote Koh Samui.
The TAT is trying to solve this problem. It is working with Bangkok Airways and other airlines to organise events with flower-arrangement artists who are well-known in Japan in order to entice Japanese women to visit Koh Samui.
For such trips, the TAT will also promote tourism-related products for women including food, safe accommodation and high-end spa services.
Mr Narin also plans to enhance the capacity of Thai hoteliers to cope with fierce competition in the next three years, with as many as 14 hotels with 1,400 rooms set to be opened and operated by international chains in that time.
The developments will increase the number of hotel rooms on Koh Samui to nearly 20,000, spurring competition between hoteliers. At the same time, the growth of visitors to Koh Samui is limited due to the low number of daily flights.
"As the hotel business is getting tougher, we should prepare Thai hotel operators, especially those from the second and the third generations who are taking over the hotels from their founders," said Mr Narin.
The TAT is also organising a series of "Business Model Canvas" training courses. The first class took place last month, focusing on innovations to make their hotels unique and standardised in order to compete with international chains in the future.