According to Thai media news, recently, Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports, Ms. Sudarwan, revealed that Thai Prime Minister and Finance Minister Saita previously inspected Koh Samui and proposed the goal of upgrading Koh Samui to one of the top ten best tourist islands in the world. In this regard, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports held a meeting with the head of the Koh Samui Tourism Promotion Association to cooperate in achieving the above goals.
She said that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports will work with the National Tourism Administration to strengthen the promotion of Koh Samui's tourism industry from all dimensions, including the beauty of the ocean, local cuisine and the lifestyle of local people, with the aim of attracting more tourists to Koh Samui and increasing local tourism revenue.
At present, Koh Samui's tourism industry has recovered to the pre-epidemic level, but it is still facing the problem that enterprises that provide various services have not yet returned, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports will work with the Ministry of Labor and various educational institutions to accelerate the training of talents in various fields. At the same time, the Koh Samui mega cruise port project, which is also supported by Prime Minister Saita, will be submitted to the cabinet for consideration in 2024, and when completed, it will be able to increase the number of large cruise ships and tourists calling in Thailand.
In addition, she further said that the data showed that between January 1 and April 7, 2024, there were 100 cruise ships entering Thailand through water checkpoints, bringing a total of 214,097 tourists and 92,745 crew members. Among them, the largest number of tourists are the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, Germany and Singapore, while the provinces with the highest number of inbound tourists are Phuket, Chonburi and Surat Thani.