Hotels in Koh Samui raked in room revenue of US$25.5 million (Bt824 billion) in the first half - up 24 per cent over the same half last year, according to C9 Hotelworks.
Samui witnessed a strong recovery while hotels in Bangkok remained in pain from the political turbulence.
According to global hotel data provider STR Global, in June when the AsiaPacific region's occupancy rate rose 14.5 percentage points to 63.9 per cent, Bangkok posted the largest occupancy decrease, falling 25.8 percentage points to 34.9 per cent. Phuket ended the month virtually flat with a 0.2percentagepoint decrease to 36.3 per cent.
According to STR Global, while the regional revenue per available room jumped 27.0 per cent to $77.83, Bangkok's rate fell 31.4 per cent to $28.68, reporting the largest decrease in all major markets.
C9 Hotelworks' "Samui 2010 Hotel Market Update", however, showed that for Samui, while occupancy in the first half went up 5 per cent, room rates increased 13 per cent.
International visitors increased with the higher international flight capacity, rising 67 per cent from 2009. Tourist arrivals increased 8 per cent during the same period since 2008. Wholesale gains made from 2009 were due in part to weak demand in the early part of that year.
Bill Barnett, managing director of C9 Hotelworks, said recently that rates and occupancies grew through a marked increase in visitors.
"The first half of 2010 suggests that a sustainable recovery for Samui tourism has begun despite the Bangkok political events in the final months of the period," he said.
"Growth from regional mar?kets signalled potential change in the island's tourism profile with a strong Thai baht coupled with weak British pound and euro slowing the rebound for the traditionally strong longhaul visitor sector."
In the second half, luxury hotel room inventory is set to grow when 205 rooms are opened.
"Globally recognised brands such as W and Conrad along with recent entries such as Banyan Tree are poised to drive new interest in the destination," he said.
Hotel development however continues in Phuket, despite the poor performance so far. During this month, Kasikornbank extended Bt567 million and Bt1 billion loans to finance the construction of Cape View Resort and Spa and Pullman Arcadia Naithon Beach Hotel, respectively.
The Pullman is owned by Fair and Firm Co Ltd. Its managing director Maitree Narukatpichai said construction work for the fivestar hotel on Karon Beach is slated for completion in October and commercial operation is set for July 2012. The 30rai property expects to cater mainly to highend travellers from Europe, Asia and Australia.
"Phuket is expanding fast as leisure and meeting destinations. We decided to invest in the hotel as we already own the land," he said.
His family operates a 20 year property on the island, Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa, which is undergoing a Bt200 million facelift.
Based on the survey of STR Global, AsiaPacific and its subregions were the winners of the regions across the first half of this year, driven by overall improving economic conditions and rising demand.
"The yeartodate demand (occupied rooms) was unsurprisingly up on yeartodate 2009 (16 per cent), but also was up on yeartodate 2008 (2 per cent) and just up on precrisis levels of the first six months of 2007 (0.4 per cent).
"With an overall steady increase of new supply, the recovered demand creates a solid base for the region to continue its revenue per available room recovery for the rest of the year," said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global.
In June alone, five AsiaPacific markets ended the month with revenue per available room increases of 30 per cent or more - Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Osaka, and Bali, Indonesia.