Koh Samui plans to lengthen airport operating hours due tourism surge

[snoop1130]

 

Koh Samui's tourism operators are expecting an increase in European tourists as the high tourism season for the Gulf of Thailand is nearing. They are advocating to extend the operating hours at Samui airport to include 20 more flights everyday as they believe this has the potential to increase tourist numbers by 10-20%.

 

The President of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui, Ratchaporn Poolsawadee, expressed confidence in a complete recovery of tourism this season, due to the full resumption of all flights at Samui airport. Visitors are primarily from countries like Germany, UK, France, and Australia. The island is benefitting from a policy that allows tourists from 93 countries to extend their visas and stay up to 60 days.

 

Ratchaporn is hopeful that an increase in flights to Surat Thani Airport and ferry services could help achieve hotel occupancy rates of 80-90% in July and August, the peak season for the Gulf of Thailand. The annual Full Moon Party is also expected to draw big crowds.

 

“The Full Moon Party at Koh Pha Ngan is expected to pull in over 50,000 visitors per event during the high season.”

 

The recent Pride Nation Samui International festival had a positive effect of promoting the island before the peak season.

 

However, there are concerns around inadequate infrastructure. Even though there are enough hotel rooms (about 30,000) for tourists, the airport’s capacity to handle flights and ferry supply falls short of the increasing demand.

 

 

Samui Airport currently operates from 7 am to 10 pm and can handle approximately 50 flights each day. A public forum is due to be held in late July, in which the possible extension of the airport’s operating hours will be discussed with locals and stakeholders.

 

A study suggests that the airport could manage 73 flights a day, achieving an increase in tourist numbers by around 2,000 each day. Ratchaporn is estimating a 10-20% increase in the number of tourists from the 3.4 million tourists recorded last year.

 

The island’s ferry service operators are also preparing for the increase in demand by expanding their fleets.

 

In order to boost tourist spending, the government is considering lifting the ban on alcohol sales from 2 pm to 5 pm. Ratchaporn suggested that caution should be exercised with alcohol consumption and the laws around it should be strongly enforced to maintain safety.

 

“Relaxing the alcohol sales limitation should be balanced with confining drinking to private areas and strictly enforcing the law to ensure road safety and prevent crimes.”

 

The extension of operating hours for bars and entertainment venues until 4 am has proven to be managed effectively by both public and private sectors concerning safety matters.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-07-05

 

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[Foek]

Maybe open the airport for other flight carriers , or will that no improve tourism?🤔

Edited Saturday at 12:56 AM by Foek

[Keeps]

23 minutes ago, Foek said:

Maybe open the airport for other flight carriers , or will that no improve tourism?🤔

It would, but it won't increase Bangkok Airways profits and that's what it is all about...

[john donson]

imagine paying good money and planes constantly taking off and landing... nice holiday

 

phuket and surrounding area = pirate islands, ripp off starting with the taxi maffia

[Tropicalevo]

3 hours ago, Foek said:

Maybe open the airport for other flight carriers , or will that no improve tourism?🤔

 

2 hours ago, Keeps said:

It would, but it won't increase Bangkok Airways profits and that's what it is all about...

 

Other airlines have always been flying into Samui.

To say that they have not is an AN posters myth.

Before Covid, there were about six other airlines flying to the island.

Some years ago, TG used to but realised that it was cheaper to code share.

Currently there are two or three other airlines. Scoot and Chengdu Airlines are using the airport.

Cambodia Airways were also flying here but stopped as it there were not enough passengers.

Landing fees may be an issue for them, but more importantly it is the daily flight quota that is the restriction in high season.

As a private airport (no government funding) only 50 flights per day is the max.

Bangkok Airways fills that number in high season.

Edited Saturday at 04:11 AM by Tropicalevo

[ronster]

They might want to sort out their awful flight timetable !

I had to leave a day early in the afternoon as there was literally 2 morning flights around 8-9am and then next one was around 4pm. After that there was a flight every 15-30 minutes.

My mate flying back also said he couldn't get one back to samui from BKK until late afternoon as no flights .

Plus their prices are absolutely shocking when can fly same airline and flight time to Phuket for about a third of samui price . 

[Tropicalevo]

11 minutes ago, ronster said:

They might want to sort out their awful flight timetable !

I had to leave a day early in the afternoon as there was literally 2 morning flights around 8-9am and then next one was around 4pm. After that there was a flight every 15-30 minutes.

My mate flying back also said he couldn't get one back to samui from BKK until late afternoon as no flights .

Plus their prices are absolutely shocking when can fly same airline and flight time to Phuket for about a third of samui price . 

The other flights were already fully booked?

There are at least 20 - 30 flights a day from Bangkok BKK and DMK depending on the season.

It is their most popular route.

One customer in January flew in from Saudi and assumed that he could just pop onto one of the many flights on the timetable.

He had to wait two days for availability.

 

https://www.samuiairportonline.com/flight-status/

 

[ronster]

50 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

The other flights were already fully booked?

There are at least 20 - 30 flights a day from Bangkok BKK and DMK depending on the season.

It is their most popular route.

One customer in January flew in from Saudi and assumed that he could just pop onto one of the many flights on the timetable.

He had to wait two days for availability.

 

https://www.samuiairportonline.com/flight-status/

 

I wouldn't think so as they weren't on the timetable and the airport wasn't busy when I left on one of first flights out in afternoon. I had 3 seats all to myself on my flight out .

[Tropicalevo]

Operating hours were certainly extended at Samui yesterday.

Flights still leaving at 23.30.

Lots of delayed flights onto the island.

When I looked, out of 22 flights on the board at the time, 13 were delayed. Some very long delays.

The longest delay was from Chiang Mai - 630 minutes.

I presume that there was a lot of very bad weather around Thailand. (Sunny here though.)