Prachuap Khiri Khan
Thailand's narrowest point (12.38km Gulf-to-Myanmar)—Hua Hin oldest resort, 11.4M visitors 2024, 45.7B baht revenue, 40% farmers grow only coconuts.
Prachuap Khiri Khan is Thailand at its narrowest—just 12.38 kilometers separate the Gulf of Thailand from the Myanmar border in the Tenasserim Hills. The Kra Isthmus squeezes here, creating strategic significance that once invited invasion and now invites tourists. Hua Hin, Thailand's oldest resort town, has hosted royalty since the 1920s; on March 28, 2025, the district was upgraded to city municipality status to manage the development pressures of its high-end hospitality economy.
The numbers track the squeeze: 11.4 million visitors in 2024 generated 45.7 billion baht, ranking the province fifth nationally for tourism revenue. International arrivals rose 34.86%. Between January and July 2025, another 6.8 million visitors brought 31 billion baht. The "Next Move Prachuap" strategy, unveiled by the governor in early 2025, emphasizes wellness tourism, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy—attempting to diversify an economy where 40% of farmers cultivate nothing but coconuts.
The narrow isthmus that defines the province also limits expansion. Scenic routes along the Tanao Si mountain range are under development, but the same topography that made this land bridge historically defensible now concentrates tourism pressure. Prachuap Khiri Khan exists because geography created a chokepoint; its economy exists because that chokepoint has beaches on one side and mountains on the other.