In 1979 this kind of tourism in Phuket Thailand, like hill tribe trekking, was still at an early stage of development. On the smaller of the two islands, Koh Samui, only a few hundred young tourists stayed at any one time in the few, small and simple bungalow hotel resorts on the island. On the bigger and, at the time, already better developed island of Phuket, the number of tourists reached at the most a few thousand at any time. Except for a few hotels, mostly located in the incipient township of Patong, all the other accommodations on Phuket were also small bungalow resorts. Just as in the hill tribe villages, facilities in the bungalows were basic, and prices low. The young tourists spent most of their time on the beaches, some of them resting from the exertions of travel through India and other Asian countries. The simple structures left the environment almost unaffected; bungalow resorts in the late 1970s were as yet "marginal paradises".

This state of affairs changed fundamentally in the following decades. Vacationing tourism on the islands of Southern Thailand underwent during that period a much more far-reaching transformation than did hill tribe tourism in the north. This can be gauged most easily from quantitative data. The numbers of visitors to both islands increased steeply; on Phuket there were 1.3 million tourists in 1991, 1.77 million in 1993 and by 1994 their number may have reached up to two million; while on Koh Samui the number of tourists in 1993 was about 560.000. As important as the growth in sheer numbers is the change in the kind of tourism on the islands: in the 1970s drifters and other youth tourists initiated the touristic penetration of the islands. As the islands acquired a growing "paradisiac" reputation, mass tourists began to arrive; they presently dominate tourism on both islands, and particularly on Phuket. Concomitantly, the hotels, accommodations and facilities on the islands were continuously upgraded, expanded, and diversified, especially after access to the islands was made easier, speedier, and more comfortable. In 1983 Phuket airport was opened to international flights; an express ferry service to Koh Samui was substituted for the earlier slow boat service; and in 1989 a local airport was inaugurated on the island.

On the principal beaches of both islands luxurious hotels and restaurants supplanted many of the earlier bungalows; some of these, such as the Club Med on Phuket, are affiliated to major international chains. Tourism resorts spread out to ever new sites, so that most of the beaches on both islands are presently occupied by tourist establishments. The expansion of tourism along the beaches has taken two principal forms: on the one hand, the staggering rise in land values has driven smaller entrepreneurs from the principal beaches, which are now occupied by luxurious hotels and resorts; smaller tourist enterprises are located in the hinterland of the principal beaches, on less developed beaches adjoining them, or on as yet remote unpenetrated beaches. On the other hand, large-scale, luxurious projects have been implanted onto inlets and coasts which had not previously been opened to tourism by smaller and simpler establishments. New hotels have also sprung up in the urban centers, and especially in Phuket town, which features some of the most luxurious hotels on the island, although it does not have access to a good beach.