Koh Samui has witnessed significant investment events over the past 15+ years, marking its evolution as a prime destination for tourism and real estate. These investments have ranged from infrastructural developments, such as new hotels and airport expansions, to strategic partnerships aimed at boosting accessibility and luxury offerings on the island. This timeline captures the major milestones that have shaped Koh Samui’s investment landscape and highlight why you should speak Horizon Homes about investment opportunities.

Timeline of Major Investment Events in Koh Samui

2008-2012

  1. February 16, 2008: Suratthani Deputy Governor Thawatchai Toetphaothai announced the revival of the Koh Phangan airport project, previously suspended. This was in response to rising airfares by Bangkok Airways, threatening tourism on Koh Samui and nearby islands. The new airport on Koh Phangan, 15 km from Koh Samui, aims to provide an alternative route for tourists with a 25-minute speed boat transfer from Samui. A November 13 meeting with various departments addressed the airfare issues. Thawatchai supported other airlines applying to land in Suratthani, which sees flights from Thai Airways, Air Asia, and Orient Thai One Two Go. The province also works with speed-boat operators for passenger transfers between Suratthani airport and the islands.
  2. December 15, 2009: 3rd Asia and Middle East Dialogue (AMED III) in Bangkok under the theme “Strengthening Cooperation towards Common Prosperity”. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva presided over the opening ceremony, with delegations from 36 countries participating. This meeting highlighted the importance of economic and political cooperation between Asia and the Middle East.
  3. January 1, 2010: Suvarnabhumi Airport Development: Thailand’s new airport at Suvarnabhumi significantly enhanced connectivity to Koh Samui, promoting increased tourist inflows and boosting local businesses. The airport’s development was part of a larger strategy to position Thailand as a central hub in Southeast Asia.
  4. July 12, 2010: The Koh Samui Country Club (KSCC) was unveiled, offering deluxe tropical living with stunning views, luxury accommodations, and a range of leisure amenities. Developed by the Beach Republic Group, KSCC set a new standard for upscale yet casual living on the island.
  5. February 10, 2011: Bangkok Airways Fare Reduction: Bangkok Airways reduced the price of fares by up to 30%, making travel to Koh Samui more affordable and accessible. This strategic move resulted in a noticeable increase in tourism, helping to bolster the local economy.
  6. August 17, 2011: Akatsuki Resort opened on the scenic western coast of Koh Samui, offering a unique combination of 5-star facilities and the exclusivity of a private home. Tucked away on Lipa Noi Beach, the resort accommodates group bookings for up to 17 guests and features luxurious amenities including 4 pools, an onsite spa, and a personal chef. Designed by Tokyo-based architect Riccardo Tossani, the resort integrates the philosophy of “living with nature” and uses natural materials and ventilation. Akatsuki has been praised by Condé Nast Traveller for its stylish design and exceptional privacy.
  7. March 15, 2012: W Hotel Launch: The opening of the new W Hotel in Koh Samui brought a significant boost to the island’s luxury accommodation sector, attracting high-end tourists and setting a new standard for hospitality. This development marked a milestone in Koh Samui’s transformation into a luxury destination.
  8. April 5, 2012: Miss Thailand Event in Koh Samui: Miss Thailand event held in Koh Samui showcased the island’s beauty and cultural richness, attracting media attention and boosting tourism. The event featured 30 contestants and was covered by 20 media outlets, highlighting Koh Samui’s potential as a prime tourist destination.

Thai PM Says 2009 Year Of Investment

The government has designated 2009 the Year of Investment and plans to set up a “one-start, one-stop service centre” to spur the investment sector. The move is a renewed bid by the government to boost investor confidence, cushion the impact of the global economic crisis and create more jobs. Abhisit: Listening to investors

Speaking during his weekly TV address, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government would help promote businesses that could do well in the current economic downturn.

2013-2015

  1. July 21, 2013: New Hotel Openings: The hospitality industry saw substantial investment with the opening of high-end hotels, attracting more international tourists and boosting the local economy. Notable new hotels included properties by Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.
  2. August 1, 2014: Infrastructure Improvements: The government invested $100 million in upgrading roads and transportation facilities on the island, making it easier for tourists and residents to navigate. These improvements were essential for supporting the growing number of visitors to Koh Samui.
  3. October 30, 2015: Real Estate Boom: Koh Samui’s real estate market saw a surge in villa constructions, catering to high-net-worth individuals seeking exclusive properties. Over 100 luxury villas were constructed, with significant investments in the sector, reflecting strong demand for premium real estate.
  4. November 5, 2015: Thai Airways and Air France Partnership: Thai Airways and Air France expanded their partnership, increasing flight options to Koh Samui and enhancing connectivity for international travelers. This partnership facilitated easier travel for tourists from Europe.

2016-2018

  1. May 25, 2016: Tourism Marketing Campaigns: Enhanced marketing campaigns by tourism boards promoted Koh Samui as a luxury destination, resulting in a 15% increase in tourist arrivals and greater visibility on the global stage. These campaigns targeted high-income travelers from Europe and Asia.
  2. June 14, 2017: Eco-friendly Resorts Expansion: The expansion of eco-friendly resorts focused on sustainable tourism, attracting environmentally conscious travelers and boosting eco-tourism. Resorts such as Six Senses and Anantara invested over $75 million in eco-friendly developments.
  3. April 4, 2018: Direct Flights Introduction: New direct flights from major cities worldwide increased accessibility, resulting in a 20% surge in international tourist arrivals. Airlines such as Qatar Airways and Emirates added routes to Koh Samui.
  4. May 10, 2018: Development of New Recreational Facilities: New recreational facilities, including golf courses and water parks, were developed to enhance the tourist experience. The investment in these facilities amounted to $50 million, adding new attractions and activities for visitors.

2019-2021

  1. November 3, 2019: Boutique Hotels and Wellness Retreats: The opening of several boutique hotels and wellness retreats diversified accommodation options, catering to a broader range of tourists. Investments in these new establishments totaled $40 million, focusing on providing unique and personalized experiences.
  2. March 16, 2020: Continued Investment Despite Pandemic: Despite the global pandemic, investment continued with the development of private residences and exclusive estates, showcasing confidence in the island’s potential. Developers invested $150 million in high-end residential projects.
  3. January 22, 2021: Remote Work Facilities: Introduction of remote work facilities to cater to digital nomads and long-stay tourists, making Koh Samui a preferred destination for remote workers. These facilities included co-working spaces and long-term stay accommodations.
  4. June 30, 2021: New Cultural Festivals: Introduction of annual cultural festivals to celebrate local traditions, attracting cultural tourists and enhancing the island’s cultural appeal. These festivals provided a platform for showcasing Koh Samui’s rich cultural heritage and drew in over 10,000 visitors annually.

2022-2024

  1. July 15, 2022: Koh Samui Airport Upgrades: Major upgrades to Koh Samui Airport were completed, handling increased passenger traffic and enhancing the overall travel experience. The $200 million upgrades included expanded terminals and improved facilities.
  2. August 14, 2023: Public Hearings for Koh Samui-Mainland bridge Begin: The Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) has initiated public hearings to discuss potential routes for a highway that would connect Koh Samui island to the mainland.
  3. September 8, 2023: Beachfront Properties Launch: New beachfront properties offering luxury and privacy were launched, attracting affluent buyers and tourists. The investment in these properties totaled $100 million, providing exclusive and high-end accommodation options.
  4. March 29, 2024: International Events and Conferences: Koh Samui hosted significant international events and conferences, positioning itself as a business and leisure hub. These events drew significant international attention and boosted local businesses.
  5. May, 22, 2024: Koh Samui’s new cruise terminal project: The project, which is planned for Samui island in Surat Thai province, is expected to bring in total revenue of 8.5 billion baht. At least three private investors, including two domestic firms and a shipping line operator from Japan, have shown interest in the project. The project is estimated to be launched by 2031, with construction set to begin in 2029.

Key Reasons to Invest in Koh Samui

  1. Strategic Location: Enhanced connectivity with new direct flights and improved airport facilities.
  2. Luxury Market Growth: Increasing demand for high-end resorts and private villas.
  3. Sustainable Development: Focus on eco-friendly and sustainable tourism projects.
  4. Economic Resilience: Continued investments despite global economic challenges, showcasing confidence in the region’s potential.
  5. Diversified Tourism: Broadening the appeal with boutique hotels, wellness retreats, and facilities for digital nomads.

Koh Samui’s consistent development and strategic investments over the past 15 years underscore its potential as a premier destination for both tourists and investors. The island’s commitment to enhancing infrastructure, expanding luxury offerings, and promoting sustainable tourism ensures a promising outlook for future investments.

Hotel Investments

Hotel investments in Thailand’s key tourist destinations, particularly Phuket and Koh Samui, have become more attractive compared to Bangkok, as global investors focus on better returns. Local investors are capitalizing on this opportunity, while international investors adopt a cautious “wait-and-see” approach due to political unrest in Bangkok. Despite the demonstrations, interest in resort destinations remains high.

Research from Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels indicates a significant supply of new hotel rooms entering the market, with over 9,300 rooms, primarily in Bangkok’s luxury segment, expected by 2015. However, global financial challenges have reduced hotel transactions in recent years, though investment in Thailand’s resort areas is expected to pick up.

Phuket and Samui are seen as prime targets for international investors, given their strong performance and high repeat visitor rates. However, global competition and more attractive yields in markets like America, Australia, and Europe are affecting investment in Thailand. Nonetheless, both local and international investors remain interested in prime properties, particularly in resort destinations.

Samui Software Park To Boost Industry

Thailand’s six software parks, including Software Park Thailand, Samui Software Park, and others, are collaborating under the Local Software Park Alliance to strengthen the country’s software industry and attract global businesses. The parks focus on sharing expertise and transferring technology, providing a “soft landing” for new investments. Samui Software Park, the country’s first private software park, established in 2003, plans to launch a second phase, IT Complex Samui II, by early next year. It will add 9,600 square meters of space for 15 companies and offer seminar and software development facilities.

“With good infrastructure and comfortable transportation facilities around the island, the park aims to attract overseas investment, especially in Web development and software for the real-estate and tourism businesses. We hope to turn Koh Samui into a top-ranked destination for software development in Asia,” Sudthawan said.

The Thai Baht investment environment

The Thai baht has held up rather well in recent months, despite the rise in foreign investor risk aversion caused by a tightening of monetary policy. 

Exchange rate a mild constraint on Thailand’s Baht

In March 2006, the local currency was trading at around THB (Thai Baht) 39.18/US$ 1 early in the month, yet it has subsequently appreciated to test resistance in the THB (Thai Baht) 38.00/US$ 1 area. Medium term, we foresee a move to THB (Thai Baht) 36.00/US$ 1. This will exert a constraint on foreign visitor arrivals in the country.

Thailand’s monetary history

The currently used decimal system, one baht = 100 satang, was introduced by King Chulalongkorn. Until the 1940’s it was called the tical, then re-named to the baht. Originally, the term “baht”, was a unit of weight of approx 15 grammes and was used because one “tical” was equivalent to 15 grammes of silver.

Baht 3m Okayed for Drainage Projects

The government has released more than Bt3 million baht to fix the drainage problem in two key areas of the island in preparation for the coming monsoon season. Samui normally get heavy rains in November. And because of a bad drainage system, these usually result in flashfloods that cause terrible traffic around the island. Parinya Veerajit, chief of the Koh Samui highways department, said that funding to improve the 66-kilometer drainage canals around the island was in the pipeline. Bt1.9 million has been released so far to build a V-shape drainage tunnel in front of the Ford showroom in Sraket sub-district to the road junction at Ban Sraket.

For years, the area has been the subject of complaints from residents and motorists, he said. During a downpour, the area immediately gets flooded, causing monstrous traffic jams.

Parinya also disclosed that the highways department also got another Bt1.3 million for a similar drainage project at a junction near the Racha ferry pier. As in Ban Sraket, this junction is almost impassable during heavy downpours.

The highways chief also revealed that on top of these two drainage projects, the government has earmarked Bt900 million for concrete footpaths on both sides of the road from Maenam to Bophut and on fixing the drainage system in front of Big C supermarket in Bophut.

New Thai PM Promises New roads

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva saw for himself Koh Samui?s bad road condition during a recent visit and promised to do something about it. Mr. Abhisit visited Samui recently to attend a meeting of the Democrat Party held at the Boathouse Hotel. Suratthani provincial administrator Thanee Tueaksuban told the prime minister the 50-kilometer ring road, the islands main artery, is in a state of disrepair and needed immediate attention.

Covered with holes and cracks, the road has been a major cause of road accidents on the island, Thanee said. The drainage system along the road, he added, is also in disarray and has been a major cause of flashflood during heavy rains. Maintenance of Samui roads, according to him, is currently under the Highways Department of the national government. But this responsibility will soon be transferred to the Koh Samui Municipality.

Thanee expressed concern that the transfer could do more harm than good to the current situation. Road maintenance, he said, requires huge funding and he doubts if the municipality would have the money to do the job properly. He proposed that instead of the municipality, the best agency to handle the maintenance and repair of Samui roads in the provincial government of Suratthani.

The provincial government, according to him, has the experience and manpower to do he job. Abhisit promised the provincial administer he would look into his proposal. He guaranteed, however, that no matter which agency would handle the job, adequate funding will be provided for the repair of the ring road.

Samui Gets 900m Bath To Upgrade Roads

The Ministry of Finance has allocated Bt900 million for upgrading roads on Koh Samui, with Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij stating that the 70-kilometer ring road reconstruction is essential due to damage from flooding, increased tourism and vehicle use. The last road renovation was 27 years ago. Additionally, a feasibility study is underway for an international conference center on a 37-rai plot at Laem Mai Kaen cape, valued at Bt440 million, which is conveniently located near the airport and city center.

Koh Samui Tourism Association chairman Senee Puwasetthavorn highlighted the need for larger hotel accommodations, noting that a conference center with a capacity of over 1,000 people could attract significant events to the island.

Rapid development on the island has led to insufficient infrastructure, contributing to road damage and exacerbating flooding issues. By enhancing the road system, the project can improve drainage and help manage flood risks more effectively. Alongside the ongoing road development, future projects like the proposed international conference center at Laem Mai Kaen cape should also consider integrating flood protection measures to ensure that infrastructure remains resilient against the island’s growing environmental challenges.

The 900 million Baht that The Finance Ministry has approved for Samui involves:

  • Road improvement: THB 615 million.
  • Flood prevention: THB 231 million.
  • Road expansion: THB 40 million.
  • New lighting posts: THB 4 million.
  • New traffic signs: THB 4 million.
  • New roadside barriers: THB 2 million.

Global Mala Returns to Samui

The Global Mala event in Koh Samui this year is a significant gathering focused on promoting peace, environmental awareness, and global unity through yoga and wellness practices. Typically held in September to align with the United Nations International Day of Peace, the event takes place on the beach or in popular yoga studios across the island. Koh Samui’s vibrant wellness community actively participates, with resorts and yoga centers offering workshops and group activities, making it open to all, regardless of yoga experience.

This year, there is a strong emphasis on sustainability, with the event promoting eco-conscious living and raising funds for local environmental projects. The Global Mala connects Koh Samui participants with others around the world, forming a global collective for peace and wellness. Additionally, the event often supports charity efforts, with proceeds going to humanitarian or environmental causes. Apart from yoga, attendees can engage in wellness activities like meditation, breathwork, and sound healing, fostering a holistic experience.

Foreign Investors Flock to Thailand

The world economy is stuttering to recover across the west, but Asia is booming and keeping global growth going.

China is the engine, but South East Asian nations are also flourishing, and even places like Thailand, fresh from a political crisis, are growing in double-digit figures.

Companies are coming from the world’s big economies to tap new markets and investors are pouring money in to a place where they will get good returns. Thailand has a mixed image, from the modern skyscrapers towering above the chaos of backstreet Bangkok, to the beaches, islands and seedy bars where tourists flock, to the rural rice paddies in its agricultural heartland.

But what is Thailand’s main money maker? Tourism doesn’t even come close and neither does rice.

Its biggest export is computer hard disk drives – manufacturing is the industry which is driving this growth.

Terrific opportunity

At the massive Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate two hours from Bangkok and just 30 minutes from the beach resort town of Pattaya, Ford is building a gigantic new factory. Demand is outstripping what the company can supply from its current car plant shared with Mazda. So the company is investing $800m (£505m) in Thailand this year to produce vehicles for the Asian market, creating tens of thousands of jobs.

“Every company that wants to have a global footprint has to have a good plan for Asia,” says Peter Fleet, President of Ford in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“We believe Asian growth will account for about 70% of our company’s growth over the next eight years, so we are applying a lot of our resources to China, to India and South East Asia to make sure we can capitalise on that terrific growth opportunity.”

The market is expanding with more people in Asian countries consuming more, higher value, products and it comes just a decade after a major shock to the region. The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s began in Thailand with the collapse of its currency, the baht, but lessons were learned from mistakes made, and it has helped countries in this part of the world bounce back quicker.

“We are obviously doing very well in terms of the rapid rate of recovery from the global financial crisis that every country around the world faced,” says Korn Chatikavanij, Thailand’s finance minister.

“We have seen double-digit rate of GDP growth in many countries across Asia – Thailand included – and this frankly in spite of the political mess that we’ve had.

“So in short, things are looking stable, growth is good and unemployment is down. We have no other reason than to feel quite positive about how things have taken place.”

He predicts Thailand’s annual growth will end the year at 7.5%, despite a political crisis which left 91 people dead and saw landmark buildings in Bangkok set on fire as the military used live rounds to break up a two-month long blockade of the city centre by anti-government protesters.

Big impact

Asia is producing for its own expanding markets, but they are still relatively small in the global context, and it is exports to the west which bring in higher levels of growth. The bigger western economies are still in a slump following the financial crisis, but unless they can start buying more goods from Asia again, these emerging nations will not be able to keep growing, or keep propping up the world economy. It does make a big impact now, as things would be a lot harder if Asia was not doing as well.

As one of the few places in the world to get good, fast returns, investors are pouring money in, strengthening the currency. With the baht at its highest level against the dollar in 17 years, there is strong money around to spend, and so Thais are on a spending spree in Europe.

In the UK, Leicester City Football Club, the Corus steel plant on Teesside in the north-east of England, and fish canning brand John West are all being bought by Thai investors. British businesses want to be a part of it too. Tesco continues to expand in Thailand, as does Boots, which is adding 25 to 30 new stores to the 176 it already has across the country.

“Relative growth in Europe is fairly small but the growth in India, China and Asia overall is exponential,” says Paul Millar, managing director of Boots Retail Thailand.

“It is relatively untapped so therefore the opportunities are very good for a western company coming in. Asia is booming and we see long term-growth in Asia.”

Many agree and so the money keeps flowing and the economies strengthening. Asia may still not be strong or big enough to save the world economy, but it is supporting it at a crucial time while simultaneously spring-boarding its own development.