Hat Yai Hotels In Dire Straits

[george]

Hat Yai hotels in dire straits

Two owners seek buyers, 4 others face huge losses

HAT YAI: -- Hotels in this commercial and tourism city in Songkhla are reeling from a series of financial blows with two looking for buyers and about four others suffocating under huge losses. 192

With revenues barely enough to cover interest payments many hotels have had to ask their creditors for relief, according to Somchart Phimthanapoonporn, president of the Hat Yai-Songkhla Hotel Association.

“Hotel occupancy is now 10-20 per cent. Some hotels are luckier, but not higher than 40 per cent,” he said, adding that the stains of red ink start spreading when occupancy falls below 5 192 0 per cent.

The tourism industry here has been crippled by the violence in the deep South. But problems started earlier than that. In early 2003, tourists started staying away due to the regional Sars outbreak. The problem was exacerbated by the bird flu in 2004 and the bomb attacks at Hat Yai International Airport earlier this year.

Some hotels have responded by tossing in a free night fo 192 r every one-night stay.

With a combined 9,000 rooms, hotels urgently need authorities to step in lest they are forced to lay off workers or shutter operations. They need three-year low-interest loans for working capital, Somchart said.

“This should be enough to cover expenses when tourists stop coming. We expect that it’ll take a few years to tame the violence in the South,” Somchart said. 192

The 150-room LK Hotel first tried to tackle the crisis by cutting room rates in half, said general manager Tharathip Masdit. But bookings did not improve, so the hotel now offers guests an extra night stay. On weekdays, occupancy is slightly more than 10 per cent, while on weekends it goes up to about 30 per cent.

“This is what we have witnessed since the Songkran festival. Tourists are c 192 oncerned mostly about their safety. Tour groups and seminars from Bangkok have also disappeared,” he said.

Another factor is that there are no festivals held between June and October to lure visitors to Hat Yai. Until the high season arrives, all tourism-based business will have to think of every possible strategy to stay afloat before the last resort of cost-cutting measures.

--The Nation 2005-08-03

[meelousee]

I read in a travel magazine that Asians were staying away from most beaches in Thailand because they fear the wandering dead. Since they did not get a proper burial the sprit wanders and tries to pull in the living to their realm.

Seems the monks blessing was not acceptable?

Has anyone else an update on this?

[astral]

I thought the Dire Straits were in Indonesia!

I must get the atlas out and check.

[WISteve]

"I thought the Dire Straits were in Indonesia!"

Well if they are, I'd love to hear them perform live again!

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Sounds like the perfect time for a visit to a Hat Yai beach. Do they have those down there? Thought it was mostly an industrial town serving the oil industry, but that probably just shows my ignorance.

Think I should do some searching and see if a little visit in September might be in the offing.

They can only kill you once, right?

~WISteve

[ovenman]

Sounds like the perfect time for a visit to a Hat Yai beach.  Do they have those down there?

The beach town is Songkhla, approximately thirty km to the north of Hat Yai.