THE Songkran celebration in Samui last week proved to be more joyful than that of last year.

Local residents said more people from other places arrived here for this year’s Songkran festival compared to that of 2011.

Despite the earthquake that hit southern Thailand  on the eve of the Thai New Year, people from other parts of the country still came to celebrate the festival here.

The two ferry piers in Suratthani were busy during the Songkran week as hundreds of tourists, local and foreign, tried to catch a boat ride to the is- land. The two ferry companies servicing the island added extra trips last week to ferry tourists to and from the island.

Longtime Samui residents said more foreigners took part in this year’s street fun than in previous years.

They also noted a sharp increase in the number of tourists coming here with their families during this year’s Songkran holidays.

Meanwhile, Southern Thailand tourism business association has asked the government to always remain alert for any possible catastrophe to build tourists’ confdence in light of the tsunami scare last week.

The president of the Association of Domestic Travel, Maiyarut Pheerayakoses, said tsunami warnings are still necessary for Thailand.

He said the government should not worry that sounding a warning could stir panic among tourists.

Bangkok Airways’ inaugural fight between Kuala Lumpur and Samui took off at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on April 1.

Airline offcials and the Malaysian Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) hosted an inaugural reception at the KL airport for travel agents and the media. Tourism offcials from Malaysia and Thailand also at- tended the reception.

Bangkok Airways has expanded its regional service by fying between Samui and Kuala Lumpur.

The new service brings to three Bangkok Airway’s non-stop international routes. The airline has ongoing services from Samui to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Since April 1, the airline has been fying daily non-stop service between Samui and Kuala Lumpur using the 138-seater Airbus 319.

Flight PG951 leaves Koh Samui at 5:55 p.m. and arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 8:25 p.m.

From Kuala Lumpur, PG952 leaves KLIA at 8:25 a.m., arriving in Samui at 9:05 a.m.

In Samui, the inaugural fight from Kuala Lumpur was welcomed by local offcials led by Mr. Sirichai Charoenrath, director of the Koh Samui air- port, Ms. Saiphayome Somsook of the Koh Samui Tourism Coordination Center, and dr. Bannasart  Ruangchan, chair- man of the Koh Samui Tourism Promotion Association.

Mr. Wiboon nimitwanit, head of the Tourism Authority of Thailand offces in Malaysia and Brunei, accompanied the passengers from Malaysia during the airline’s maiden fight to Samui.

In a brief speech at the Samui airport, Mr. Wiboon expressed confdence the new air service would further boost tourism between Thailand and Malaysia.

Police recently raided a narcotics factory being  operated by a German national in a rented house near the fishing village of Baan Tai in Koh Phangan. The raid was done after the arrest of the factory owner, Tim Oliver Korbel, 35, who was caught after an elaborate trap set up by the police.

Pol. Col. Vitiya Wangdan, Koh Phangan police chief, said they learned about the makeshift factory, where methamphetamine or “ice” was being manufactured for local distribution, after being tipped off by a foreigner who knew about the operation.

He said a plan was immediately set in motion to arrest the factory owner red-handed.

The foreigner-informant, Col. Vitiya said, was asked to pose as drug buyer. The informant called the suspect from a rented house in downtown Koh Phangan and ordered 2.5 grams of “ice.”

Minutes later, Korbel arrived in a pickup truck to deliver the “goods.” The poser paid for the “ice” with marked money. Shortly after he had left the poser’s “home,” police emerged from hiding and arrested him, using the marked money as evidence for the drug sale.

Subsequently, a police team swooped down on Korbel’s rented house and found equipment and supplies used in the production of “ice,” such as caffeine, base powder, caustic soda and alum. Also found were digital scales and ready-to-use “ice” which police estimated to be worth Bt2 million.

At the police station, Korbel confessed to being the tenant of the house. While admitting he owned the “small” narcotics factory, he denied he was running it as a commercial operation.’ He said the “ice” that he was making for his own consumption and for those of his friends. He added he been doing it for about a year now.

International hotel chains which used to be keen on coming to, or expanding their presence in, Samui are having second thoughts because of the island’s limited air transportation capabilities.

Mr. Seni Phuwasethaoworn, chief of the Tourism Council of Thailand office in Suratthani, said the combined number of flights to Samui between Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways was 36 a day. These flights could accommodate only 2,000-3,000 passengers a day.

To fill up the current number of hotel rooms on the island, the total airline seat capacity required would be 4,000-5,000 a day, Mr. Seni said.

With airline capacity not up to par, hotels have frozen or deferred their expansion plans.  Mr. Seni said that before talking about further expansion plans, they wanted government assurance that something would be done about the airport and the airlines’ limited capacity.

He said Samui’s potential as an international tourist destination remains high. The current inventory of 17,000 rooms is not enough to meet the projected growth in the island’s tourism, according to him.

Four- and five-star hotel chains had been keen on adding more rooms on the island. But if there are not enough flights to service tourists, further hotel expansions would be impractical, he added.
He said 80 percent of foreign tourists come to the island by air, with only 20 percent taking the ferry. The solution, he added, is for the government to build a second airport or convince Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways to add more flights.

Samui hotel owners and other tourism industry stakeholders, he said, planned to take the problem to the national level after the July 3 elections. Mr. Seni they would take up the matter with the new prime minister to put an end to the current uncertainty facing the island’s tourism industry. He said travel operators could not launch aggressive marketing plans because they were not sure they would have the airline seats they would need should the time comes.

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