The driver told police that the brakes on the bus failed halfway down the hill.
Police and rescue workers from Karon Municipality were called to the scene at about 11pm.
No people were injured in the incident, reported Capt Suriyong Buakerdpetch of the Karon Police.
The bus driver, who police did not name, explained that he was taking the tourists to a hotel in Kata when the accident happened.
He said that he realised that the brakes were not responding as he was passing the Karon Electrical Substation, about halfway down the hill.
Faced with a runaway bus, the driver scraped the bus along the roadside barrier to slow the bus down. However, the friction was not enough to slow the vehicle to a safe speed.
At the bottom of the hill the driver managed to steer the vehicle across the lane for oncoming traffic, narrowly missing a house and a large power pole, but not without ploughing into a Toyota Hilux pickup truck parked in front of the house, sending the pickup some 10 metres into water-soaked undergrowth before the bus crashed to a halt in a roadside ditch.
“Fortunately, there were no cars driving in opposite direction, so no one got injured,” Capt Suriyong noted.
The bus driver was taken for further questioning and to be tested for alcohol, said police.
Meanwhile, cranes were to be brought to the site to recover the vehicles and insurance representatives were contacted to cover the cost of the damage, Capt Suriyong said.