SURAT THANI: Another cruise ship with more than 1,900 passengers arrived at Koh Samui for a one-day visit on Saturday, as a local tourism business leader predicted 4 billion baht in tourist spending over the New Year holiday.
Mein Schiff 5 was the third cruise ship to visit the resort island in Surat Thani province since Nov 27, after a three-year absence of calls by big liners because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 1,900 European tourists were expected to spend about 4 million baht during their brief stop on the island.
The three cruise ships that have called so far have brought about 9,000 foreign passengers and crew to Samui. More visits are scheduled on Jan 14 and 28, Feb 11 and 25 and March 18.
Ratchaporn Poolsawat, chairman of the Koh Samui Tourism Association, said on Saturday that the atmosphere on the island during the New Year’s Eve countdown was lively with the number of tourist arrivals many times higher than a year ago.
More than 18,000 rooms in medium-sized and large hotels have been fully booked until the beginning of January. More community-based tourism accommodations are being made available for visitors, he added.
Mr Ratchaporn predicted that tourist spending during the New Year holiday would bring about 4 billion baht to the island from local and foreign visitors.
Mein Schiff 5 is the third cruise ship to visit Koh Samui in the past five weeks, after three years in which no liners called at the island because of the pandemic. (Photo: Supapong Chaolan)