Better air access to Koh Samui expected to be a boon for hotels

There are currently five airlines offering direct flights to Samui from Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Hong Kong, George Town, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Kunming. These include Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways International, Firefly, Silkair and Lucky Air. 

Lucky Air is the latest airline flying to Samui, launching three flights per week from Kunming in southern China’s Yunnan province since last August. 

All in all, there are currently an average of 38 flights to and from Samui per day. In addition to direct flights, AirAsia launched an all-in-one service with flights from Bangkok to Surat Thani Airport on the mainland with a connecting ferry to Koh Samui.

 

Improved connectivity

“Increasing air capacity will improve connectivity and strengthen Samui’s position as one of Thailand’s prominent tourist destinations,” said Andrew Langdon, executive vice president of the hotels and hospitality group at JLL. “This is good news for hotels on the island, as we expect an improvement in tourist demand and hence hotel occupancies.

“The political turmoil that affected the Bangkok hotel market last year did not have a significant impact on the Samui hotel market.” 

While Bangkok hotels saw a dip in the average occupancy rate from 74.3 per cent in 2013 to 57.8 per cent last year, occupancies of hotels on Koh Samui remained relatively stable, averaging above 70 per cent.

“There were a number of factors that helped sustained trading performance of hotels in Samui last year. Aside from the fact that Samui was isolated from the political turbulence, hotel openings in Koh Samui in 2014 [were] limited, with only one notable new opening – the 208-key OZO Samui located in Chaweng,” Langdon said.

Between 2015 and 2018, an additional 680 rooms in branded hotels are scheduled for completion on Koh Samui. However, JLL does not expect this new room supply to have |a material downward pressure on hotel occupancies in the island.

 

More regional visitors

“Demand growth is likely to keep pace with new hotel supply, given improving accessibility to Samui,” Langdon said. “While visitors from Australia and Europe have been the top source markets for hotels on Koh Samui, we have seen the number of regional visitors to the island rising. The number of visitors from mainland China in particular is expected to grow further with an improvement in air connectivity.” 

JLL also believes that Samui will continue to position itself as a high-end resort destination as more luxury brands establish their presence on the island. Most of the new hotel projects are in the four-to-five-star segment. 

It has also seen a trend |of hotel rebranding, such as |The Passage Samui Villas & Resort to Movenpick Laem Yai Beach and the Imperial Samui Beach to the Sheraton Samui (scheduled to be operational in April). 

However, the growing number of regional visitors is also offering growing opportunities for the budget, economy and mid-scale hotel segment, as evidenced by the success of the OZO Samui resort.