Koh Samui is getting a real port for cruise ships. Thailand's Transport Ministry is advancing a 12.17-billion-baht cruise terminal at Laem Hin Khom, on the island's southwest coast, with an opening targeted for 2032. In the summer of 2026, the project moved one step further inside the ministry.
Today, the cruise ships calling at Samui drop anchor offshore and bring their passengers ashore by tender, when the weather allows. The new terminal is sized for around 240 cruise calls and up to 400,000 passengers a year.
The Project in Numbers
Almost the entire investment comes from the private sector, under a 30-year public-private partnership.
| Indicator | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total investment | 12.17 billion baht over 30 years: 6.27 billion for construction and equipment, 5.75 billion for operations, 148.58 million in public funding |
| Site area | 47 rai (15 onshore, 32 offshore) |
| Target traffic | About 240 cruise calls and 200,000 to 400,000 passengers a year |
| Estimated economic value | About 46 billion baht over 30 years, economic return above 15% |
The model is a "net cost" PPP: a private operator builds and runs the terminal, and the state repays the infrastructure over ten years. Bangkok Airways, which already operates Samui Airport, showed interest in the project as early as 2024.
Why Laem Hin Khom
The selected site is Laem Hin Khom, in the Taling Ngam sub-district. This is the west coast, the most preserved side of Samui, facing the mainland and the sunsets. Marine Department surveys chose it for its natural protection from swell, its proximity to deep water and the land available behind the quay.
For THEVA Horizon, located directly below the Ida B Domaine hotel in the Lipa Noi and Taling Ngam area, the terminal will sit on the same stretch of coast. It adds a second international gateway to a side of the island that, until now, relied on the airport alone for long-haul arrivals.
A 2032 Target, With 2027 as the Test
The official timeline runs as follows:
- → 2024: site confirmed and project approved by the Prime Minister
- → 2026: project back under review at the Transport Ministry, with a new environmental and health impact assessment
- → 2027: Cabinet decision
- → 2028: tender to select the private operator for a 30-year concession
- → 2029: start of construction
- → 2032: opening of the terminal
The project has already slipped. In 2024, the Prime Minister approved it and a Cabinet submission was announced for the same year. In 2026, Thailand's PPP Policy Committee asked for the environmental and health impact assessment to be resubmitted, which pushed the schedule back again.
"The date to watch is 2027, when the Cabinet is expected to vote on the project."
What It Changes for Tourism
Samui is already a cruise stop. Between November and December 2026 alone, ships from Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania are scheduled to call at the island, all of them at anchor.
During his 2024 visit to the site, former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said that a number of cruise lines skip Samui because it lacks a terminal large enough for them. A deep-water berth removes that obstacle and brings in the high-spending visitors the government is targeting, in line with Thailand's shift toward quality over volume in tourism.
Cruise passengers remain day visitors. The expected effect is international visibility and spending concentrated on the restaurants, excursions and shops of the west coast, without mass tourism.
What It Means for Property
The terminal confirms a trend already under way: the west coast of Samui, from Lipa Noi to Taling Ngam, is becoming the island's next growth area. An infrastructure project alone, however, is no reason to buy.
What is solid
The Thai state has reaffirmed this project since 2024, under successive governments. It belongs to a national cruise network that also covers Phuket and the upper Gulf, between Pattaya and Sattahip. And it builds on fundamentals Samui already has: an international airport, leading hotel brands and very little buildable land.
What calls for caution
The timeline has moved before and depends on a new impact assessment. Be wary of listings that sell a plot "next to the future port" as guaranteed capital growth.
"A cruise terminal accelerates projects that already have their permits, their legal structure and their quality in place."
The value of a property on Samui comes first from its compliance: valid permits, respect for the altitude, slope and green-space rules, and a legal ownership structure for foreign buyers.
Final Thoughts
The Laem Hin Khom cruise terminal is a 12.17-billion-baht project, targeted for 2032, designed to make Samui a major stop in the Gulf of Thailand. It strengthens the appeal of the west coast, read as a six-year horizon rather than an immediate promise. THEVA will follow each step, starting with the Cabinet decision expected in 2027.
Sources: The Nation, 19 July 2026; Explera, 27 August 2026; Thai PBS World, 20 September 2024; CruiseDig port schedule.
