Phuket Enjoys Strong Tourist ‘low-season’

[george]

Phuket enjoys strong tourist ‘low-season’

PHUKET: -- This year’s green season has seen a healthy increase in the number of holidaymakers visiting Phuket, said Suwalai Pinpradab, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) Southern Region 4 Office.

Hotel occupancy rates are reportedly about 80%, marking a 20% to 30% increase on last year, with Patong being one of the busiest places on the island, according to TAT figures.

Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) President Maitree Narukatpichai reported that the PTA’s statistics were less impressive but he was still happy with the situation, saying that hotel occupancy in Phuket was currently between 60% and 70%.

K. Maitree told the Gazette that hotels such as the Holiday Inn Phuket Resort and the Phuket Merlin Hotel are operating at up to 90% occupancy. Hotels in Kata and Karon are running at about 50% occupancy, while Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa is at 60%, he added.

Methee Tanmanatragul of the Thai Hotels Association Southern Chapter said, “The occupancy rate has increased partly because there are more Middle Eastern and Indian people visiting Phuket.”

Other reasons for the busy green season include other Asian source markets, such as Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, experiencing particularly hot seasons; TAT’s tourist-enticing roadshows held in Middle-Eastern countries; and more direct flights serving Phuket from places including Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said K. Suwalai.

“We are all doing our best to promote tourism during the green season. For example, for Phuket Walk & Run on September 30 we have been working with 21 Japanese tour operators to sell about 500 packages for people to visit Phuket. The Japanese like this kind of sport,” added K. Suwalai.

“Tourism in Phuket has been gradually improving since the tsunami. I think that next year will be even better, especially with more charter flights from places like Scandinavia,” said K. Methee.

--Phuket Gazette 2007-08-14

[NBT TV Phuket]

Special - Low Season picking up in Phuket

To see or download mini-video, go to http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=214420

from Special Report for Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) 8.30am + FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, both broadcast from Phuket City to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces & maybe later on Phuket Cable TV Channel 1, Monday 6 August 2007 & www.Thaisnews.com {Our news text and mini-videos can be freely copied, but give credit to Andaman News TV11 Phuket or contact [email protected]}

This year’s low season for Phuket is reported to be satisfying, according to tourism businesses and local hoteliers. According to the Phuket Tourist Association President Maitree Nareukhat–Pichai, 60-70 % of tourists visiting Phuket during this period are staying in the Patong area with occupancy rates of approximately 80% while the occupancy rates for other tourist beaches like Kata and Karon is reported at 50- 60%. Even though most tourists cannot go swimming deep in the sea due to the monsoon waves and currents, they enjoy watching or joining the surfers and even kite-surfers riding the waves, and kids playing kites, seen here along Karon beach last weekend when the wind and weather was favourable.

Maitree pointed out that the current occupancy rate is very good compared to the same period of the previous years. Asked whether the current Baht currency appreciation has had or will have an impact on the region’s tourism, Mr. Maitree said they have not yet felt the impact as most hotels do not sell in dollars. Other than that he said the region’s main markets are European, Australian or Asian and that the currency exchange does not deter visitors much.

The fact was reinforced by the Tourism Minister Dr. Suvit Yodmanee who admitted that the Baht appreciation has only lightly affected Thai tourism in terms of spending mood, but not significantly:

Both public and private tourism businesses expect a promising high season this year, beginning in November, as they expect to see at least 90% occupancy and bookings with European travelers still the major market with Russian tourists being new and interesting markets for the Andaman destinations. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand region 4 Office Suwalai Pinpradap around 1,000 more rooms of accommodation will be added in Phuket, mostly in 5 star hotels and foreign chains of hotels. They all foresee an active high season and expect it to be as busy if not busier than the same period just before the region got struck by the Tsunami in December 2004.

So get ready for tourism to really take off and fly high by the end of this year.

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MiniVDO: Visa credit card spending in Phuket was almost 2 billion baht per month and up 35% compared to last year.

To see or download mini-video, go to http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=214453

Tourist spending in Phuket has continued to rise in the first half of 2007 according to cardholder spending data released by Visa International in the Asia Pacific region. Visitors’ spending on Visa cards has increased since the December 2004 tsunami. In the month immediately following the tsunami, Visa data revealed that spending in January 2005 decreased by 23 percent when compared with January 2004. In December 2004, the month of the tsunami, visitor spending on Visa cards was US$23 million or 690 million baht. One year later, it had increased to US$31.5 million or 945 million baht and in December 2006 it was US$50 million or 1.5 billion baht. Notably, tourist spending on Visa cards in Phuket in January 2007, part of Phuket’s peak travel season, was at its highest level since the 2004 tsunami at US$62 million or about 1.86 billion baht. Visa’s data for June 2007 showed that tourist spending on Visa cards in Phuket grew 21 percent compared with June 2006. The total spending in Phuket for the first 6 months of 2007 was almost $246 million or about 7.38 billion baht, up 35% on last year.

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MiniVDO: Survey shows Phuket revenue per room increasing almost 40%.

To see or download mini-video, go to http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=214452

Half year results from the HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte Company show that the hotel market in Asia Pacific is seeing much stronger growth this year than last, with Phuket booming. Double-digit rises in both occupancy levels and average room rates have caused Revenue per average room or RevPAR to swell by 39.6% to US$111 or 3,330 baht – considerably higher than Indonesian and Malaysian hotels. This is largely due to the increased accessibility of the island, as low-cost airlines connect these resorts to the region’s gateway cities. In the last year-to-June 2007, Phuket’s occupancy average was 74.7% or 23.7% up from last year. The average room rate was $149 or 4470 baht, up 12.8% from last year. The HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte Company is the largest independent source of hotel performance data in the world and tracks the performance of over 7,200 hotels and 1.3 million rooms every month.

[Mid]

Economy in South continues decline in 2Q07

BANGKOK, Aug 13 (TNA) - General economy in southern Thailand during the second quarter of 2007 continued to retreat from the first quarter due to several negative factors including persisting violence in the restive provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, according to a report issued by the Bank of Thailand (BoT).

Security concerns led some foreign tourists to forgo visiting the South, the report said, noting that only 607,240 foreign tourists, chiefly Malaysians and Singaporeans, visited the South during the second quarter of this year, a decline of 4.3 per cent from the corresponding period of last year.

Tourism business on the Andaman coast was also sluggish during the period due to the low season, with fewer Europeans, especially Scandinavian tourists, visiting attractions in the area, the report said.

It said revenue from sales on agricultural products in the South fell 10.6 per cent during the second quarter after rubber prices dropped 14.8 per cent. Production of fisheries and crude palm oil slipped 4.2 per cent and 32.5 per cent respectively. (TNA)-E111

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