SURAT THANI, 30 October 2026: Once discovered by backpackers, Khao Sok is steadily attracting a wider audience, with new places to stay and more ways to explore its rainforest landscape.
For Marius Herrmann, a tourism developer involved with Our Jungle Resorts and Lost Horizon Resort, the evolution is clear. Khao Sok Village, long associated with backpacker guesthouses, now offers more places to stay, along with massage shops, ATV tours, and zip lines. Many of these activities come from smaller businesses responding to demand for nature-based travel.
The opportunity also brings a warning: “The challenge is that Khao Sok Village is starting to look like every other tourist destination.”
Having watched the area evolve over the past decade, Herrmann sees promise in a tourism market that is still taking shape. Growth has been noticeable, but development remains largely small- to medium-scale, with independent operators offering many similar experiences. Major investors have not yet arrived in force. The concern is less about where Khao Sok stands today than about preserving its distinctive character as it develops.
A different kind of jungle stay
That thinking helped shape Lost Horizon Resort, a higher-end retreat nearer Khlong Phanom National Park and away from the busiest part of Khao Sok Village. The idea is to offer families and independent travellers more carefully planned nature experiences while spreading visitor activity and economic benefits beyond one well-trodden centre.
Khao Sok could become more than a traditional stopover between Thailand’s Andaman and Gulf coasts. Attractive rooms are part of the appeal, but memorable experiences will give travellers more reasons to stay another night.
Growing interest in nature could encourage longer visits, especially as the activities on offer become more varied and compelling.
Cheow Lan Lake presents its own opportunities. Given local ownership and lakeside licensing restrictions, he suggests that experiences developed with surrounding communities could spread benefits more widely while helping manage pressure on the lake itself.
Protect the reason people come
Tourism growth holds promise, provided collaboration guides it. The rainforest, national parks, and communities draw visitors, and safeguarding them will help Khao Sok remain distinctive as it develops.
“Nature-based tourism is fragile by definition, which makes destination and capacity management absolutely critical.”
His work at Cardamom Tented Camp and Anurak Community Lodge helped shape that view. He argues that lasting nature-based tourism depends on close relationships with park authorities, communities, and resort employees. Local people should be more than the backdrop to a visitor’s holiday.
At Our Jungle Resorts, general manager Luca Forges Davanzati and his team help bring that philosophy to life. Across the resorts, they emphasise hiring and training local staff, creating career opportunities, and working with local guides, growers, and businesses.
Former team members have even gone on to establish their own ventures, a hospitality success story that extends well beyond the resort gate. Traditional thatched-roof weaving also remains alive and well locally, thanks in part to Our Jungle Resorts’ continued use of this locally sourced material across its accommodations.
As Khao Sok develops, Herrmann would like operators, national parks, local government and tourism authorities to work together to consider where visitors go, when they go and what experiences the destination should develop next.
“The biggest barrier isn’t infrastructure; it’s the lack of a shared, coordinated approach,” he said.
Looking to 2030, the vision is a broader mix of accommodation and high-quality educational tours, ideally led by local people with deep knowledge of the forest. This next stage offers a chance to guide growth before the destination’s character is diluted.
“What I’d hate to see is Khao Sok continuing down the path to becoming a mass-market destination,” he said. The goal is to protect the character that draws people here while creating more opportunities for those who call the region home.
For Khao Sok, still taking shape as a broader tourism destination, the opportunity is clear: build on the momentum, share the benefits and keep the rainforest at the heart of the experience.
(Author: Dr Scott Smith)
