Tourism in Koh Samui hit by limited flight availability

Accomodation supply outstrips an arrivals demand hamstrung by severely limited flights

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Koh Samui

Koh Samui's four-year hotel building boom is threatening to undermine the long-term success of the destination as supply outstrips an arrivals demand hamstrung by severely limited airlift, according to Samui Hotel Market Update 2010, released today by leading consulting firm C9 Hotelworks.

The respected report reveals that oversupply heavily impacted last year's operating performance and if there was no airport expansion or relocation plans that would improve access to the island, the long-term potential of Koh Samui would be effectively capped.

Koh Samui, Thailand's second-largest island, 700 kilometres south of Bangkok, is located in an international flight corridor requiring low landing levels. Coupled with environmental restrictions allowing only 36 flights a day at the existing airport and a runway length unable to handle larger aircraft, it has created a situation that is strangling the popular southern Thailand destination.

C9 Hotelworks Managing Director Bill Barnett said: "The simple problem is that you can't stay there if you can't get there, this is the key restricting growth in Koh Samui. Private sector development in the hospitality sector has surged well ahead of transportation infrastructure improvements which has caused the market to go into a tailspin."

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