20,000 Extra Hotel Rooms Due

[Buff-horns]

NEW YEAR SPECIAL: Kingdom to get 30 large new hotels next year

Published on December 29, 2005

Thai and foreign hotel operators plan to open about 30 hotels with 20,000 rooms next year. Of the total, 12,000 rooms will be located in Bangkok and the rest will be in major tourist destinations like Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and newly popular locales like Koh Lanta in Krabi and Koh Chang in Trat.

New hotels slated to open in Bangkok include the Hilton Millennium, Central World Hotel, The Regent Sukhumvit and Park Plaza brands under the Radisson Group, Holiday Inn Sukhumvit, Millennium Le Meridien, three Ibis brand hotels of the Accor Group, and the Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel.

The new Bangkok airport and Chiang Mai Night Safari were important factors driving the increase in rooms, according to Prakit Chinamourphong, vice president of the Thai Hotels Association (THA). Also, many service apartments see benefits if they add hotel services under an impending change to the law governing hotels and serviced apartments. Under the legislation only hotels can market rooms on a daily basis, and if serviced apartment operators want to rent by the day they must pay the same taxes as hotels do.

Under current law serviced apartments can offer rooms by the day without paying hotel-related taxes.

According to the THA, Bangkok’s hotel occupancy this year has been 72.8 per cent, compared to 78.8 per cent in 2004. The average in the central region is 65 per cent; the North, 68 per cent; the South, 50 per cent; the eastern seaboard, 61 per cent; and 60 per cent in the far western provinces.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s foreign tourist target for 2006 is 13.4 million arrivals, compared to an original target of 15 million.

The THA also outlined its marketing plans for 2006. It will organise sales missions to deal with travel agents in markets with growth potential. The organisation with the Association of Thai Travel Agents will hold a seminar to educate members on market needs, starting with the Chinese market.

Chalong Anunyapisit, general manager of Radisson Hotel Bangkok, said new hotels would sprout in Bangkok as more international tourists, particularly business people and incentive travellers, visit the Kingdom.

“Thailand has succeeded in implementing trade agreements with many countries. This will help the country bring in more business travellers,” said Chalong.

Accor Asia Pacific said its latest property, Ibis Fenix Bangkok, with 150 rooms, would open in late 2006 at a prime location on Sukhumvit Road.

“We are confident in the Ibis brand track record in Asia and in Accor’s ability to deliver positive results,” said Michael Issenberg, managing director of Accor Asia Pacific.

Ibis hotels have been launched in South Korea and China and have exceeded all predictions with occupancy rates of more than 90 per cent during the hotels’ first two years of operation. He expressed confidence in achieving similar results in Bangkok.

Moreover, the 189-room Ibis Siam Bangkok is five minutes from the popular Pratunam shopping area and the 288-room Ibis Huamark Bangkok is near Ramkamheng University and the Hua Mark Stadium.

In southern Thailand’s Phang Nga province, 1,200 rooms have been reconstructed and were open for business, accounting for 20 per cent of all rooms before the tsunami, said Anupong Sa-nguannam, president of theTourist Association.

Phang Nga operators had reserved 600 rooms for guests of the government for tsunami memorial events, he said.

Khao Lak has an advantage in being the starting point for scuba diving trips to marine destinations including the Surin and Similan islands as well as Phang Nga Bay.

In Chiang Mai the tourism industry has expanded thanks to more elaborate Songkran and Loy Kratong festivals, and the new Chiang Mai Night Safari.

To tap the market in Chiang Mai, Central Hotels and Resorts announced development plans for new properties including management of the Daungtawan Hotel.

Central Pattaya Beach Resort will open in 2008, Central Phuket Beach Resort in 2009 and Central Krabi Bay Resort opened in December 2005.

Central also plans to develop hotels with 200 to 300 rooms on Koh Lanta, 200 rooms on Koh Tao, 200 to 300 rooms in Rayong’s Koh Kood.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation