Phuket's Tourism Soars Thanks to Chinese and Russians
Skift Take
- Phuket's hotel market saw strong growth in the first half of 2023, driven by increased flight volumes, with Russia and China as top tourism markets, and higher room rates post-pandemic.
- Accor anticipates a surge in hotel conversions due to stricter lending rules, leading to more independent Thai hotel owners seeking franchising, rebranding, or conversion opportunities.
- Macau plans to invest in attracting foreign tourists but faces challenges due to airport expansion. Wyndham opens its first Wyndham Grand hotel in South Korea, and S Hotels and Resorts launches SO/Maldives in the CROSSROADS Maldives.
C9 Hotelworks released their Phuket Hotel Market Update report, showing hotels experienced momentum in the first half of 2023. At mid-year, international and domestic flight volume was already up 75% over total flights in 2022. Russia and China led the way as the two top tourism source markets in the first six months of the year. Rounding out the top five overseas marketplaces were India, Australia and Kazakhstan. C9 said market-wide hotel occupancy in the first half surpassed the 70% threshold but the real boost for hotel owners has been a sustained post-pandemic trend in higher room rates.
C9 expects Phuket’s year end results to exceed pre-Covid levels but staff shortages and the resort island’s failing infrastructure are a big concern. They mentioned a sure in full and part time residents, driven by a sharp uptick in tourism, an overheating property market and wholesale return of development activity has created massive traffic issues. C9 described it as “carmageddon” a traffic gridlock scenario that will have a profound impact on tourists and residents alike. They named various traffic and transportation projects that have never come to fruition to help what could be a bad situation. All that being said, C9 said hotels and tourism businesses remain concerned over the slow return of Chinese travelers with travel sentiment to the Kingdom muted despite the visa-free initiative. This follows the tourist sho
