A very significant proportion of Thailand’s GDP is accounted for by tourism (12% pre-pandemic) which is also a key driver of the country’s real estate market. On the back of the reopening of Chinese borders in March this year, tourist numbers have continued to rise dramatically from 11.5M in 2022, and projections for 2023 indicate visitors will reach 30 million (source BANGKOK, Feb 7 (Reuters), approximately 75% of pre-pandemic numbers.
 
The principal factor being foreign investment enabled by tourism, the Thai property markets’ recovery since COVID has been particularly strong in resort destinations such as Koh Samui and Phuket. 200,000 tourists visited Samui during January this year and a majority of the mid to luxury end holiday rental villas were booked back-to-back over the last high season (between December 22 and January 23). A key indicator for the now buyout property sales market for the island, as of 19th April 2023, the year-on-year change for the global search volume in Google for the key phrase “koh samui property for sale” was + 19% (source Google Ads API April 2023).
 
Other key influences fuelling the continued recovery of the Koh Samui property market include the notable increase in Russian investors looking to move their money into safe havens due to the nervousness about their economy fuelled by war anxiety and the Thai governments’ luring of foreign investors via new longer-term visa programmes (see https://ltr.boi.go.th/) for high net worth visitors and professionals deemed to be able add value to Thailand.