Phuket Upbeat Over Songkran Tourism

[george]

Phuket upbeat over Songkran tourism

PHUKET: -- Phuket's tourism association today remained confident that hotel occupancy on the country's resort island would soar to over 70 percent during the forthcoming Songkran period, while admitting that Monday's earthquake in Indonesia had led a number of visitors to cancel their hotel bookings.

According to the association's head, Mr. Patanapong Ekvanich, hotels on the island are already reporting average occupancy rates of around 70 percent for advance bookings over the extended vacation, and occupancy rates are expected to climb higher once the vacation gets underway.

In previous years hotels on the island have often been bursting to full capacity over the Songkran period, but tourists have steered clear of Thailand's Andaman region since the December tsunami, and recent occupancy rates have failed to edge much higher than 30 percent.

However, the island's hopes of a full tourism revival over the Songkran period were dented by Monday's earthquake off the Indonesian coast of Sumatra, which triggered further tsunami warnings in the country's southern Andaman region.

Mr. Patanapong said that the earthquake had prompted around five percent of Thai visitors to cancel their bookings for Phuket, while his counterpart in the nearby Krabi Prvonce said that the cancellation rates for that province stood at around 10 percent.

It is notable, however, that no foreigners have been reported as having cancelled their bookings due to the incident.

--TNA 2005-03-30