Tourist sector in Phuket reeling from lack of Chinese tourists

 

 

Tourism-related businesses in Phuket have been hard hit by the sharp drop in the number of tourist arrivals, especially Chinese, as a direct result of the COVID-19 outbreak in China and its spread to several other countries.

 

The Phuket Wang Tahfu Chinese restaurant, for example, which used to cater to between 1,000-2,000 Chinese customers, mostly tour groups, has seen virtually no customers since late January, when the Chinese government banned tour groups from leaving the country.

 

Mr. Wutthipong Boonraksa, general manager, told Thai PBS that the restaurant relies mainly on Chinese tourists and, now, barely any of them visit Phuket. 

 

He said he had ordered his staff of about 60 to report to work on alternate days and receive half of their salaries, adding that the restaurant has resorted to selling “som tum” (papaya salad) to generate some revenue to keep the restaurant afloat.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/tourist-sector-in-phuket-reeling-from-lack-of-chinese-tourists/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2020-02-20

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They will sure need to sell a load of Somtam to make up for 1000/2000 covers a day. ????

Eating breakfast at a hotel this morning. No Chinese screaming across the dining area, no spitting, no kids touching everything in the buffet and no smoking in no-smoking areas. Pure bliss!!!!!

2 hours ago, webfact said:

work on alternate days

The alternate day starts on second half of the year, when the Chinese are back in double the usual number.

The price of hotel rooms have not dropped, in fact they have gone up.

I was going to Phuket in March.

But when i looked at the prices, maybe not.

One hotel i have stayed at before for B1,000 per night is now B1,500

Typical Thai logic( or lack of) no customers put the price up.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

as a direct result of the COVID-19 outbreak in China

Course it could be that they just heard about more mass mall shootings and cancelled again. 

1 hour ago, bridge2bridge said:

The price of hotel rooms have not dropped, in fact they have gone up.

I was going to Phuket in March.

But when i looked at the prices, maybe not.

One hotel i have stayed at before for B1,000 per night is now B1,500

Typical Thai logic( or lack of) no customers put the price up.

Are you basing this statement on one hotel? Did you look at the same dates you stayed before?

 

Many hotels have reduced their prices. Not all, for many reasons, but have a proper look and there are plenty of bargains out their.

 

It is total myth that Thai hotels put up prices in times of trouble. I know other businesses do but the hotel trade generally takes the approach that it's better to have an occupied hotel room, which helps to offset costs, than an empty one, hence the reason prices reduce dramatically during low season.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Tourist sector in Phuket reeling from lack of Chinese tourists

Gonna be some hurt bank balances this year.

3 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Eating breakfast at a hotel this morning. No Chinese screaming across the dining area, no spitting, no kids touching everything in the buffet and no smoking in no-smoking areas. Pure bliss!!!!!

Agreed. At Suvarnabhumi airport picking up sister....nice and quiet, easy to park, no Chinese tour groups. God I love these health scares. I'm off to Oz i April...hopefully the ban on Chinese tourists will still be in place.

31 minutes ago, madmitch said:

Are you basing this statement on one hotel? Did you look at the same dates you stayed before?

 

Many hotels have reduced their prices. Not all, for many reasons, but have a proper look and there are plenty of bargains out their.

 

It is total myth that Thai hotels put up prices in times of trouble. I know other businesses do but the hotel trade generally takes the approach that it's better to have an occupied hotel room, which helps to offset costs, than an empty one, hence the reason prices reduce dramatically during low season.

A place near us is normally 1450 this time of year.

A buddy just moved in there as its dropped its rate to 800 now.

 

 "Typical Thai logic( or lack of) no customers put the price up" ( B2B) ..... I dont know how this makes any sense at all when we know Hotels have Low Season rates , you know , where they have no customers ,  so LOWER their rates...

 

Tourism is down - many of us who live in Phuket may suggest its actually what any peak season should be ,  very busy , but not rabidly overcrowded to the point of filth and annoyance and banked up traffic that had become ''the norm'' of the last 5 or so years.

 

But to have TV constantly writing articles that the 'sky is falling' , when thats not the case , and its not the case for our business here or our neighbour's businesses , is frankly getting quite boring.

 

Of course a new business ( and the Chinese market IS relatively new here )  catering solely to Chinese customers is going to be empty ... 

 

And , btw , I think the Som Tum bit was simply made up...

It will probably be until next Chinese holiday before seeing improvements in business for those that solely cater to Chinese.

unfortunately some businesses can weather the storm...

7 hours ago, madmitch said:

Are you basing this statement on one hotel? Did you look at the same dates you stayed before?

 

Many hotels have reduced their prices. Not all, for many reasons, but have a proper look and there are plenty of bargains out their.

 

It is total myth that Thai hotels put up prices in times of trouble. I know other businesses do but the hotel trade generally takes the approach that it's better to have an occupied hotel room, which helps to offset costs, than an empty one, hence the reason prices reduce dramatically during low season.

Do you live in Thailand and that's a serious question? I can vouch for the statement made by madmitch that in my limited experience of 18 years visiting and living in Thailand that the hotel industry "4 - 5 star that I have used (I generally use the same hotels as in a very loyal type person) put prices up to compensate for lack of customers and will sit with empty rooms even when you area loyal customer refusing to negotiate the price they had given you weeks before (one hotel we used regularly every 3 or 4 weeks was nearly 3 x higher than a few weeks before at 6,000baht for 2 nights to 15,000baht, the hotel was empty) on those ocations they loss my business forever.  So my meer experience is yes it is very common practice in Thailands hotel industry. 

Never put all your eggs in wonton basket.

Yet the defiant thai bhat stays strong...

Where are all of the celebrated FITs now? Vanished into thin air?

14 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Eating breakfast at a hotel this morning. No Chinese screaming across the dining area, no spitting, no kids touching everything in the buffet and no smoking in no-smoking areas. Pure bliss!!!!!

Yeah, I was just in Samui, only farangs and Thais around. But .. not really bliss because the infra has already been modified to suit Chinese. Empty fleecing stations like at the grannny rock were a sore sight. The general disrepair of things, as Chinese short term tours simply don't care about cleanliness, was also an eyesore. Sort of post-apocalyptic feeling. 

On 2/20/2020 at 7:42 AM, bridge2bridge said:

The price of hotel rooms have not dropped, in fact they have gone up.

I was going to Phuket in March.

But when i looked at the prices, maybe not.

One hotel i have stayed at before for B1,000 per night is now B1,500

Typical Thai logic( or lack of) no customers put the price up.

Where are you looking? which site try Agoda