A video of a couple “blown away” by the design of an airport in Thailand has gone viral on TikTok.
The footage was shared by Daniel and Nakita (@dcandkd) and has had 146,900 views since it was shared on March 26. A message overlaid on the video reads: “Never seen an airport like this before.”
Daniel and Nakita, who are 32 and 27, respectively, are based in London. Daniel is a content creator and songwriter, while Nakita is also a content creator as well as a dancer, the couple told Newsweek.
The footage was captured on March 26 at the airport in Koh Samui, an island off the east coast of Thailand. The couple—who had spent two weeks on the island on their first trip to the country—were en route to Bangkok, the Thai capital, on a Bangkok Airways flight before heading back to London.
The video shows scenes of lush greenery at the small airport, with people sitting at outdoor tables, and relaxing on bean bags and sun loungers.
The couple told Newsweek: “When you arrive in Koh Samui, you don’t get to see it in as much detail as when you leave. We arrived at the airport and checked in our suitcases and when we walked through departures, we were shocked at how beautiful it was, everything was outside.
“The most striking part about the airport was it was outside and the lake in departures [area]. This was our first time at an airport like this,” they said.
The post come as air travel continues to see strong growth in the post-COVID-19 era. Air traffic globally was reported to have returned to nearly pre-pandemic levels in a January 2024 report by the International Air Transport Association.
Travel is set to hit “record highs” in 2024, with global tourism spending expected to reach $2 trillion, according to a December 2023 survey by Euromonitor International, a market research firm.
‘Never Seen an Airport Like This’
A caption shared with the viral post reads: “Airport with a lake.”
“The whole thing is outside,” Nakita says in the video, as the camera shows an outdoor patch of grass with trees and some people sitting on bean bags.
The camera later pans to some outdoor tables at a cafe and a tree-lined walkway, as well as a lake area with lily pads floating on it and sun loungers on grass.
“Crazy…beautiful…I feel like I’m at a hotel resort,” Daniel says in the clip. “I’ve never seen an airport like this in my life.”
The couple were struck by how clean the airport was, with lots of nice shops and lounging areas in the sun.
As they continued to the airport security area, the couple walked through a “beautiful lake” and “we were blown away by how beautiful it was, it was better than some of our hotels,” they told Newsweek.
“It doesn’t feel like an airport you don’t want to leave; you could relax there all day. There’s no stress, everything is so relaxed you don’t feel like you’re traveling, they pick you up in a buggy then take you to the plane,” which was also “very spacious and clean,” the couple noted.
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