Govt eyes making Songkhla global cruise hub

PM confident the Southern province has the potential to welcome luxury liners and high-spending tourists

The government has tasked the Transport Ministry with studying the development of ports in Songkhla to bring them up to the standard required to accommodate luxury cruise ships.

Following an off-site cabinet meeting in Songkhla on Tuesday, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said that the province has the potential to welcome cruise ships from abroad.

She added that the study will also include plans to attract high-spending tourists to travel in the South of Thailand with Songkhla serving as a transport hub.

Nithi Siprae, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) deputy governor for marketing communication, said that several cruise ships from Singapore are currently docking at Koh Samui, a resort island of Surat Thani province.

He said the TAT is working on inviting ship operators to also consider Songkhla as a destination, by highlighting one-day trips to various destinations in the South.

“Songkhla is considered the transportation hub of the lower Southern region. It is a multicultural city, located between two seas, with a rich cultural heritage and a unique local way of life,” said Nithi.

He added that Songkhla is especially popular among Malaysian visitors who travel to the province by air and by road. Cruise ships docking at the port would add to the water-based tourism in the area, he said.

Paetongtarn on Tuesday also visited the Old Town neighbourhood of Songkhla, which the province is pushing for UNESCO recognition as a creative city. The Old Town was last year included in the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories by Green Destinations Foundation and Internationale Tourismus-Börse.

Local businesses earned more than 50.2 billion baht in 2024 from over 6.99 million visitors in 2024, 3.86 million of them foreign and 3.13 million Thai, an increase of 24.53% year on year.

The top five foreign visitors to Songkhla last year were Malaysians, Indonesians, Singaporeans, Laotians, and Chinese, respectively.

(2025/02/19-00:00)