One million arrivals are expected for Khao Lak in Thailand this year, a huge transformation for the destination, following the dark days after the 2004 tsunami, according to a new report by consultancy C9 Hotelworks.

In the year following the event, hotel guest arrivals in Phang Nga Province fell sharply under 300,000 for the entire year, but in a sustained upswing the number pushed upwards to 962,020 at the end of 2015 and is expected to break the 1 million mark this year.

Key drivers, according to the report, are rising Chinese and Australian visitors, adding to the European guests that still dominate the market with 80% of arrivals. The result has been a new surge of hotel development.

Khao Lak’s hotel market has 104 registered accommodation units with 7,822 keys, a number that pales compared with neighbor Phuket, whose supply is close to 50,000. But over the past five years, Khao Lak has seen a compounded annual growth rate of 16%, a rising performance noticed by both Thai and foreign hotel developers with 1,213 new rooms coming into the supply pipeline.

“The upward cycle in tourism is highlighted by the planned return of Bill Heinecke’s Minor Hotel Group and more international brands coming on stage such as IHG’s Holiday Inn brand,” said C9 Hotelworks’ Managing Director Bill Barnett. “Geographically within Khao Lak we are seeing the push north for the newest and larger resorts with Bangsak, in particular seeing a number of large-scale properties.”

Winter visitors from European countries, especially Nordic nationalities, have traditionally been the legacy market. These were the main drivers of the destination in the period after the tsunami. However, by 2006 foreign visitors eclipsed domestic demand for the first time and the trend has grown ever since.

Data from C9’s report points to other markets such as Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore as key catalysts of change.

Summing up Phang Nga’s push toward the golden 1 million milestone, Barnett added: “Khao Lak has been able to attract an increasing number of visitors from nearby Phuket who have destination fatigue and are disconnected by the wide-spread urbanized of the island’s resort atmosphere. Though the destination is firmly connected to the bigger Greater Phuket infrastructure, including the soon to open expanded airport, in the long-term Phang Nga will have to develop its own gateway airport in order to control its own tourism destiny.”