Business Slump In Phuket?

[borracho]

I've been talking with a few people about the slow season being a lot slower than last year.

Does anyone have a finger on what the bookings are looking like for the high season?

Will the slow down continue?

With the rise in fuel/food/airline tickets world wide the slow down seems likely to continue.

[LivinginKata]

Much depends on area on Phuket Island. Patong remains busy, but I notice that the guesthouses, eateries, and bars along Nanai Road appear quiter than normal low season period. The large family hotels claim to have good occupancy, and that appears true given the number of tourist about the beach/front areas. Apartment rental in Patong remains buoyant.

Different story in Kata. Kata main street dies during a normal high season, and this remains true this year. I see a number of businesses close down, some long time established. Of course these premises quickly have a new resturant etc. No idea how the hotels are doing, but apartment rental is slow.

[Boater]

the same is happening in Samui, very quiet indeed

[stevenl]

It seems to me a normal low season.

Every year I also see messages on forums of people claiming the low season is quieter than the year before. If that were the case every year, there would be nobody on the island by now.

[simon43]

My low season bookings are up on last year, now running about 60-70% occupancy. Many bookings already for high season, so I'm happy so far

Simon

(hotel at the airport)

[keestha]

In Khao Lak there are much more tourists around than last year July and August.

[donna]

i remember reading a post on here a few weeks back stating that phuket (or was it thailand in general?) was down around 15% on last year.

[LivinLOS]

It seems to me a normal low season.

Every year I also see messages on forums of people claiming the low season is quieter than the year before. If that were the case every year, there would be nobody on the island by now.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Phuket-Touri...tu-t198179.html

Facts dont agree.

[happyaussie]

Correct, this is low season and most businesses are hurting.

So can someone answer this please? I have friends who want to visit Phuket from Australia in October, but can't get seats on the planes. And yes, they are flexible with their dates. Still little joy, unless of course they accept the block of seats available at 3 times the usual fare. They have plenty of those.

I have also heard of numerous friends who can't make connections on long haul flights from Europe due to lack of schedules between Bangkok & Phuket.

There are plenty of hotel rooms and it seems plenty of demand. So why don't the airlines put on extra flights?

And I am not interested in the stories about how difficult the airline industry is. They whinge about oil increases, but it's all passed onto the consumer anyway. Has the surcharge decreased since the price of oil dropped, I doubt it.

[steelepulse]

Just have your friends fly through Singapore.  Plenty of seats between SIn and HKT.

[LivinLOS]

Correct, this is low season and most businesses are hurting.

So can someone answer this please? I have friends who want to visit Phuket from Australia in October, but can't get seats on the planes. And yes, they are flexible with their dates. Still little joy, unless of course they accept the block of seats available at 3 times the usual fare. They have plenty of those.

I have also heard of numerous friends who can't make connections on long haul flights from Europe due to lack of schedules between Bangkok & Phuket.

There are plenty of hotel rooms and it seems plenty of demand. So why don't the airlines put on extra flights?

And I am not interested in the stories about how difficult the airline industry is. They whinge about oil increases, but it's all passed onto the consumer anyway. Has the surcharge decreased since the price of oil dropped, I doubt it.

Strange as I had to book some flights for a couple of weeks away and worried it was all going to be booked solid based on what people said recently.

As it turns out there was a selection of seats on almost every flight time I looked at. Wasnt a problem at all and its not for months away only 2 weeks or so.

Of course if your looking for sub 2000 baht budget airlines I understand a lot of them have dropped thier routes and the remaining ones might be busy. So maybe it hinges on what you expect the '3 times the usual fare' to be.. Oil doesnt cost this year what it 'usually' cost last year etc.

[happyaussie]

Guys I wasn't referring to flying out of Phuket. My comments are flying into Phuket in reference to the topic of this thread.

Just to clarify my point on pricing.

If you look on most airline website booking engines you will notice price fluctuations of in excess of 3 times their lowest price, for the same seat.

There will usually always be seats in the most expensive price, but rarely are they available in the cheaper price. That's so the airline can advertise fares to XYZ country for XYZ price. But when you try and book the XYZ fare there are no seats available. However there are plenty of seats in the higher pricing. In fact it's not the budget carriers who are the culrpits here, it's the big boys.

Some may call it creative marketing. I call it deception, especially when all they need do is have 2 seats at a low price to advertise that price.

Anyway I just hope the balance between available seats and available hotel rooms is breached.

[seppl04]

Correct, this is low season and most businesses are hurting.

So can someone answer this please? I have friends who want to visit Phuket from Australia in October, but can't get seats on the planes. And yes, they are flexible with their dates. Still little joy, unless of course they accept the block of seats available at 3 times the usual fare. They have plenty of those.

I have also heard of numerous friends who can't make connections on long haul flights from Europe due to lack of schedules between Bangkok & Phuket.

There are plenty of hotel rooms and it seems plenty of demand. So why don't the airlines put on extra flights?

And I am not interested in the stories about how difficult the airline industry is. They whinge about oil increases, but it's all passed onto the consumer anyway. Has the surcharge decreased since the price of oil dropped, I doubt it.

if your friends cannot get a connection Bkk - Phuket, tell them to check Bkk - Surathani or Bkk - Krabi from both places you are in Phuket in 2-3 hours by bus or taxi

[LivinLOS]

Guys I wasn't referring to flying out of Phuket. My comments are flying into Phuket in reference to the topic of this thread.

As I was booking a return ticket... I'd hope at least one of the legs was flying into Phuket.

[happyaussie]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll pass on the info.

My point is, will the average punter go through these sorts of hassles to come here. Or simply go somewhere else.

It's a shame this happens when most hotels & resorts have empty rooms and businesses are hurting.

Thanks again.

[sangfroid]

A friend in Pattaya who manages a bar tells me it's not low season down there, it's NO season

[chiang mai]

I've just returned to Phuket following two weeks of travel and here's my assessment of things:

Pattaya - scarily quiet by comparison to what I have seen on previous visits.

Chiang Mai - quieter than the quietest quiet, scary in fact.

Bangkok - the increased number of expats and folks there on business make it difficult for me to read anymore.

Hua Hin - zzzzzzzz.

Oh yes, and in Phuket it's, er um, quiet!

[shawndoc]

I think its too be expected. Airfare has jumped up really high (And Phuket itself just lost 2 budget airlines), and there's going to be a big global slowdown with the credit crunch and housing mess. The US, UK, and Spain are being hit hard by the last one. Phuket gets more than its share of UK visitors, and with the "housing ladder" starting to crumble, there's going to be spill over.

[Damaz6052]

Standby is easy to pickup if you have to fly with out and pre booked ticket. Both airports at leat 10% of passengers don't show.

[LaoPo]

i remember reading a post on here a few weeks back stating that phuket (or was it thailand in general?) was down around 15% on last year.

Correct.

The BIG problem is that TAT doesn't supply us anymore with he inbound tourism statistics as they did in previous years. Month #8 is almost finished but the stats for January aren't even there....

So: how could ANYBODY tell if tourism is down or not ?

But, I'm afraid that tourism will drop this year with a % that nobody expected.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Phuket-Touri...tu-t198179.html

AND

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/So-farang-To...99#entry2119499

LaoPo