It is already one of Thailand’s tourist island jewels, but Koh Samui has received the ultimate tourist bounce as the luxury location for the third series of HBO’s satire-laden murder mystery The White Lotus – topped off with a role for Thai-born K-pop superstar Lalisa “Lisa” Manobal.
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The White Lotus effect – better known to Thais as the “Lisa” effect – has seen a surge in searches for hotels and holidays on the island, according to resort owners, and with the third episode of season 3 dropping on Sunday, Thailand is dining out on the deluge of free publicity.
But behind the headline promise of ever more tourists lies a more textured picture on the small, white-sand fringed Gulf of Thailand island, which some locals say is already struggling to cope with the tourist volume at peak season.
A controversial solution appears to be on the horizon.
Exploratory work began this month on a 54km road bridge to connect the island to Surat Thani on the mainland by a 40-minute drive.
The Samui Sea Bridge would end the relative isolation for an island accessible only by ferries and an expensive single airline – a distance and cost that has broadly kept Koh Samui’s white sands to higher-spending tourists.
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While the bridge is in a consultation phase, seabed drilling tests have begun to find the best route to the shore for a link that could be completed within a decade.