San Kamphaeng Hot Spring,
Chiang Mai Province

San Kamphaeng Hot Spring Project, launched in 1984, is a business joint-venture between the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Mu Baan San Khumpaeng Agricultural Co-operative Limited. Each party contributed on million Baht as investment capital, two million Baht in total. By the agreement No. Or 10/2530, both parties aimed at developing the San Khumpaeng Hot Spring area a tourist site, with an objective to render mineral-water bathing service to local people and Thai visitors. In the initial stage, TAT was responsible for designing and constructing various buildings, as well as improving major project areas. The agreement was legally effective for two years. Up till the present time, the agreement has been renewed four times. In 1990, the TAT and the Agricultural Co-operative Limited each withdrew 7,000,000 Baht from the investment capital, making the total sum of the investment capital to remain at the total amount of 600,000 Baht.

Now, within the project there are three boarding houses, managerial water shower rooms, and office building, restaurants, souvenir shops, and a flower shop. This place also features the first outdoor mineral-water pool in Thailand. The project's facilities can accommodate approximately one hundred youths who go out there to camp. San Khumpaeng Hot Spring is in a more advantageous position in that the water from the hot spring in the project area comes up very high from the within ground and the area is still in its natural condition, making it different from other hot springs in the vicinity which have turned into resorts that demand expensive service fees.

The targets of this business are students and those with average or quite low incomes. The statistic, in 1994, showed that this place served 140,920 visitors, yielding an income of 2,851,581.88 Baht. However, some problems the project needs to solve very quickly are a shortage of founds to develop and maintain facilities and the lack of a marketing strategy to publicize its business effectively to other groups of tourists.

Business operation during the past three years included the following :

1992
- Net profit (after deduction of depreciation cost and all types of spending) 113,691.47 Baht.
- Total number of tourists 122,309.

1993
- Net profit (after deduction of depreciation cost and all types of spending) 161,349.81 Baht.
- Total number of tourists 136,211.

1994
- Net profit (after deduction of depreciation cost and all types of spending) 148,816.31 Baht.
- Total number of tourists 140,920.

Now, the project offers Thailand's first "outdoor hot mineral water pool", which can attract more tourists to this place. Moreover, studies have been conducted so that this hot spring project can be developed appropriately.