Tag: Koh Samui

Thailand – Following the premiere of HBO’s hit series ‘The White Lotus’ third season, online travel agency Agoda has reported a 12% surge in accommodation searches for Koh Samui, the show’s primary filming location, with interest from the United States soaring by 65%.

Agoda reports that a surge in US searches has placed the country among Koh Samui’s top five inbound markets, replacing Malaysia. The island’s top international searchers now come exclusively from the West: Israel, Germany, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The third season of ‘The White Lotus’ was filmed in Bangkok, Koh Samui, Koh Pha-Ngan, and Phuket, featuring a cast that includes Patrick Schwarzenegger and BLACKPINK’s Lalisa Manobal.

Notably, the first two seasons of the said series boosted tourism in Hawaii and Sicily. Building on this trend, the Thai government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) successfully lobbied for the third season to be filmed in the country.

Pierre Honne, country director for Thailand at Agoda, said, “The third season premiere of ‘The White Lotus’ has been a highly anticipated event in Thailand as it has across the rest of the world. It’s thrilling to finally see beloved Thai destinations like Bangkok and Koh Samui as the settings for a global TV sensation. The potential positive effects on Koh Samui and Thailand’s tourism are undeniable.”

Malaysia – Online travel agency and metasearch engine Agoda has released its latest survey of most-searched destinations on agoda.com, where Kuala Lumpur is revealed to be the top-searched among Malaysians.

Kuala Lumpur was followed by Penang and Langkawi as the second and third most searched destinations, while similar local spots such as Port Dickson and Malacca rounded up the top five. Malaysians were also shown to shine interest in places outside the country with Thailand and Tokyo making it to the top 10 list. Meanwhile, national destinations such as Kota Kinabalu, Cameron Highlands, and Genting Highlands were also among the top searches. 

Kuala Lumpur remained the top destination for other types of searches such as for the couple, family, and solo travels while Bentong topped the list for group travels. Almost the same mix of places resulted from each category. Ipoh and Johar Baru entered the list for the couple searches. Malaysian families, on the other hand, were also keen for Korea as the country ended as one of top-searched for the family category. Meanwhile, the group travel search saw Allepey, Kuching, Koh Samui, and Taiping entering the list, while heightened liking towards international locations demonstrated among solo travel searches, with almost half being foreign countries such as Singapore and Taipei.

Agoda’s Vice President for Corporate Development Tim Hughes said that while Agoda’s search data shows that there has been a shift towards domestic destinations amid regulations for domestic travel, people are still dreaming about international travel adventures. 

“[Travelers] still have hope that travel corridors will open later this year to some key markets where COVID has been more contained, and are looking out for great deals for when they do,” said Hughes.