Despite the outbreak of violence that has rocked the South of Thailand since the beginning of this year, the number of tourists visiting the southern tropical resort island of Koh Samui has again risen with more than 16% over the past three months.

The Thai TAT, or Tourist Authority of Thailand, forecast that the earnings of Koh Samui island from tourism will increase to about 10 billion baht (1US$ = 41 Baht) before the end of the year 2004.

The director of the Tourism Coordination Center of Koh Samui, Khun Panu Voramisra, said that daily an average of 2,000 new tourists are arriving on Samui island, with Germans ranking as top among foreign tourists, followed by Italians, British, Scandinavians, and Japanese. The number of Asian tourists visiting Koh Samui island is still low.

Panu Voramisra added that however, more Malaysian and Singapore tourists are visiting the island ad visited the island, in spite of the unrest in the deep South of Thailand.

According to Khun Panu, there are 383 top class hotels and bungalows with a combined number of 12,300 deluxe rooms available on Koh Samui island, more than 90% of which have already been booked for the coming high-season (November 2004 - February 2005).