Long weekend: Hotels in North/Isaan 70-90% occupancy, south hit by monsoon except packed "skywalk" - TAT

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Tourism Association of Thailand governor Yutthasak Suphasorn gave his assessment of the long holiday weekend that has just passed.

 

It was a mixed bag - the north and north east did well but the south was a wash-out.

 

Except for a recently opened "skywalk" in the far south that had queues round the block.

 

Yutthasak was most upbeat about Isaan or NE Thailand where he said lots of Thais were visiting temples. 

 

In Udon Thani hotel occupancy was 70% and in Bung Kan it was 90%.

 

In the north families were going on drives to enjoy the cooler weather and "seas of fog" phenomena. 

 

Picture: Daily News

 

Mae Hong Son and Lampang enjoyed 90% occupancy.

 

Nearer to Bangkok Rayong had 60-70% occupancy while Koh Samet did well as did Hua Hin and the Sam Roi Yot area south of the seaside town.

 

The optimism was not reflected in the far south however with islands like Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan lashed by monsoonal rains. Travelers going there were only up 10% on normal weekends. 

 

Yutthasak also blamed the difficulties of travel to such places. 

 

Ranong and Chumphon (where national parks are closed) also fared badly. 

 

The far south bucked the trend with the three provinces on the Malaysian border doing well.

 

Daily News published pictures of the Skywalk at Ai Yerweng in Betong, Yala,  that had large numbers of visitors queueing to enjoy the spectacular views.

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

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Would be good to hear from actual owners from around Kata, Karon and Patong I dont think it would be anywhere near them figures from what I see on the ground, before covid it never reached them figures 

Mid October to Mid December is always low season on Samui. Businesses used to close up for a couple of months until the start of the high season (15th December).

Good social distancing in the main photo?

From what i saw it was pretty quiet. I think a lot of people from Bangkok took the opportunity to visit family. I dont think the mass population was out spending kazillions of THB for the simple reason that most of the people given the current situation prefer food on the table rather than vacations. 

This sounds like TAT self-loving their wondrous long-weekend plan.

 

I am sure it would have had some benefits but as has been openly admitted by TAT, the local tourist market is also significantly down this year, and does not have the capacity to even remotely offset the losses from international tourists.

 

I note the destinations mentioned (with the exception of Hua Hin) would not be considered 'big hitters' of the Thai tourism world e.g Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Rayong etc. So you must wonder about the overall benefits.

 

We are told that the south did poorly, how about Chiang Mai & Pattaya with their 10,000s of rooms ?

 

37 minutes ago, webfact said:

Ranong and Chumphon (where national parks are closed) also fared badly. 

 

Way to go local government officials in Ranong & Chumphom ! 

Just to make doubly sure that literally no-one visits..

Whenever Yutthasak gives an enthusiastic "assessment" like this one, I am inclined to take it with a rather large pinch of salt.

 

All I know is that nobody in my neighborhood bothered to leave Bangkok for the long weekend. I have talked to several neighbors. They all said they simply didn't have the financial resources at the moment, and that the government "sponsor money" also wasn't enough to warrant an elaborate family vacation.

 

Well... maybe my neighborhood is just not as affluent as all those others, who according to Yutthasak flocked up north in droves.

 

I am *not* saying that some traveling didn't occur. But I believe it foremost was a matter of locals' short-trip outings rather than large-scale cross-provincial travel.

 

Furthermore, I simply don't trust in that "80-90% occupancy" rate across the board. It's too generalized.

 

Whatever Mr. Yutthasak may "assess", it's highly doubtful that the myriad of 5-star properties up north enjoyed the same "80-90%" occupancy as the even larger sea of middle to low-cost accommodation options there.

 

It's a big difference between shelling out 500 baht per night for a simple bungalow and the 2,000 - 3,000 baht "Covid-discounted rate" a luxurious resort would typically charge at the moment. 

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Would be good to hear from actual owners from around Kata, Karon and Patong I dont think it would be anywhere near them figures from what I see on the ground, before covid it never reached them figures 

I saw that the Woraburi in Karon was very busy, but with rooms at 750 baht before the Thai 40% discount I'm not surprised! The car park at the Meridien was also busy. But as most hotels are still closed the few tourists congregate in a lower number of places.

 

It seems low prices are here until 1st January. Most hotels seem to have a price rise then but I'd guess that's just a vain hope that things might improve and we'll see lower prices soon.

Suppose they all spent a million baht each to save the day????

Wat a load of rubbish , I was in Udon and hotel only 25-30 percent occupied , still like a ghost town 

I would like to hear it rather from real business owners than from a government officer trying to save his ass and justify his position.

6 hours ago, realfunster said:

I note the destinations mentioned (with the exception of Hua Hin) would not be considered 'big hitters' of the Thai tourism world e.g Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Rayong etc. So you must wonder about the overall benefits.

You need to get more. Mostly every resort booked around here, 660 registered, probably over100. The small resort next to us had a double decker tourist bus parked outside for the first time since we have been here. We even had to put up with 12 relos and there friends camping on our front lawn.

What happened to the edit. probably over 1000 in total.

5 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Whenever Yutthasak gives an enthusiastic "assessment" like this one, I am inclined to take it with a rather large pinch of salt.

 

All I know is that nobody in my neighborhood bothered to leave Bangkok for the long weekend. I have talked to several neighbors. They all said they simply didn't have the financial resources at the moment, and that the government "sponsor money" also wasn't enough to warrant an elaborate family vacation.

 

Well... maybe my neighborhood is just not as affluent as all those others, who according to Yutthasak flocked up north in droves.

 

I am *not* saying that some traveling didn't occur. But I believe it foremost was a matter of locals' short-trip outings rather than large-scale cross-provincial travel.

 

Furthermore, I simply don't trust in that "80-90% occupancy" rate across the board. It's too generalized.

 

Whatever Mr. Yutthasak may "assess", it's highly doubtful that the myriad of 5-star properties up north enjoyed the same "80-90%" occupancy as the even larger sea of middle to low-cost accommodation options there.

 

It's a big difference between shelling out 500 baht per night for a simple bungalow and the 2,000 - 3,000 baht "Covid-discounted rate" a luxurious resort would typically charge at the moment. 

In addition to my previous post they are not 500 baht bungalows (but should be). They are charging 800-1200 baht for a dog box.

17 minutes ago, GreasyFingers said:

In addition to my previous post they are not 500 baht bungalows (but should be). They are charging 800-1200 baht for a dog box.

Never been to Khao Kho myself but I notice on booking.com that there are places asking ฿1350 for a tent.  And not some sort of five star safari tent.  A small basic camping tent. 

 

What’s up with that?  

 

Are there mythical properties or some sort of “fountain of youth” up your way?  I had a 4 star sea view room at DusitD2 in Krabi for less than that  (฿999) recently.

 

 

7 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Mid October to Mid December is always low season on Samui. Businesses used to close up for a couple of months until the start of the high season (15th December).

Good social distancing in the main photo?

lets play a game.....SPOT THE MASK, at the skywalk.......

22 minutes ago, Airalee said:

Never been to Khao Kho myself but I notice on booking.com that there are places asking ฿1350 for a tent.  And not some sort of five star safari tent.  A small basic camping tent. 

 

What’s up with that?  

 

Are there mythical properties or some sort of “fountain of youth” up your way?  I had a 4 star sea view room at DusitD2 in Krabi for less than that  (฿999) recently.

 

 

Yes, the prices are ridiculous when you compare them to the noted "tourist areas". There is really nothing to offer up here except for cooler weather and mist in the morning apart from one standout temple that you would have been lucky to get near on the weekend.

I would prefer Krabi too.

4 hours ago, luckyscruff said:

Wat a load of rubbish , I was in Udon and hotel only 25-30 percent occupied , still like a ghost town 

 

I was down in Betong, and it was super crowded with Thai tourists. I've never seen so many tourists there before. 

I have no idea if hotel occupancy was at what the gov claimed, but I had trouble getting a hotel. I also tried to book over the new year, and the large hotel where I usually stay was booked, so I had to go with my second choice.  

 

Maybe Betong is an exception for the rest of the country, I don't know, but definitely loads of folks were visiting over the weekend. It seems like it will be packed again for the new year holidays as well. 

Was in Chiang Mai this weekend, busiest I’ve seen it for 9 months. Tourists seemed to be  95

+% Thai. Lots of Bangkok license plates. Small hotel we stayed in 100% full.

20 hours ago, webfact said:

In Udon Thani hotel occupancy was 70% and in Bung Kan it was 90%.

Selected locations, not the average.

I went to Chinatown in Bangkok on Friday night. Expected it to be quieter than in normal times. OMG! It was gridlocked with long queues for tables at restaurants. Was lucky to find my favourite place had only a short queue. Thanon Yaowarat was as jammed with pedestrian traffic as it would be if the borders were wide open. I suspect many Bangkokians stayed in the city.