"Although we have seen less tourists this year than we had in the same period of 2019, they are spending much more. Occupancy is slightly down but total revenue is way up, ADR [Average Daily Rate] is up, and we have seen this across the world," said Mr Heinecke in an interview with American business news channel and website CNBC.
"We have seen strong recovery not only in Thailand but also in Europe, Australia, the Middle East. And when China opens up – it hasn’t really fully opened yet – you will see thеsе numbers to be even stronger," added Mr Heinecke, Chairman of Minor International Plc.
Minor International is a SET-listed company with a portfolio of over 530 hotels, including renowned brands such as Anantara, Marriott, Four Seasons and Radisson Blu. The company’s total assets were valued at B358 billion as of the end of 2022. In 2022, Minor’s revenue reached B124bn, with 76% of it contributed by Minor Hotels.
An extract from the interview with Bill Heinecke, published by CNBC on July 3, did not contain any figures regarding the current state of Phuket tourism. However, the Phuket office of the Immigration Bureau partially compensated for this by publishing its monthly report on direct international arrivals to Phuket airport the next day (July 4).
Following the new standard practice of reporting, Phuket Immigration provided the overall number of direct arrivals by international flights (excluding flights via Bangkok) and numbers for the top five key markets.
According to Novosti Phuketa, The Phuket News’ sister-paper in Russian language, the numbers still stand at 65-70% of the pre-COVID levels, which were historical highs for Phuket tourism.
This evaluation is supported by Thanawat Ongcharoen, Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) Vice President of Administration & Strategy, who also recently estimated international arrivals at 70% of pre-pandemic levels due to the low number of organised tour groups from China.
As of June, most Chinese tourists visiting Phuket were independent travelers, Mr Thanawat commented, as published by the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) on June 20.
Arrivals in June
According to Phuket Immigration, total international arrivals to Phuket in June reached 248,325 travelers, an increase of 23,968 people from 224,357 in May (+10.7% month-on-month).
Out of those 23,968 ’additional’ arrivals, around one quarter (6,117 travelers) came from China. Other key markets experienced less significant growth in absolute figures, while arrivals from Russia continued to decline seasonally.
- Leading the way, China provided Phuket with 44,066 direct arrivals in June, an increase of 16.4% from 37,949 in May.
- Remaining in the second place since late April, Russia provided 25,947 visitors, a decrease of 2.6% from 26,624 in May.
- Australia ranked third with 21,902 arrivals in June, representing a 10.6% growth from 19,828 in the previous month.
- Close behind, India provided 20,223 visits, which is 2% higher than the 19,783 in May.
- Closing out the top 5, Singapore contributed 15,234 tourist arrivals in June.
Novosti Phuketa was unable to calculate the exact percentage of the month-on-month growth for the Singaporean segment, as the island nation was not in the top 5 in May. One month ago, Malaysia held the fifth spot with 12,918 arrivals, indicating that Singaporean arrivals to Phuket increased by no less than 17.9%, surpassing China by the number of travelers but not in percent.
Back to normal by year-end
According to the aforementioned NNT report, figures for Indian and Australian visitors have already returned to pre-pandemic levels, “highlighting the resilience of Phuket’s tourism sector”.
Hotel occupancy in Phuket held steady at a promising 70% between January and May, as cited by Sueksit Suwannaditsakul, President of the Southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), according to NNT.
Arrivals in Phuket in June, according to Phuket Immigration, were 10.6% higher than in May but still 18.4% lower than in April, which can be considered a transition month between the high and low seasons in tourism. Immigration recorded 304,485 passengers arriving at Phuket International Airport on flights from abroad in April.
Earlier, the Director of the Phuket office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Lertchai Wangtrakuldee reported that the island welcomed over 6 million domestic and international tourists from January through May this year.
As of late June, the TAT expected Phuket to welcome a total of 12mn domestic and international tourists this year. No figures for international arrivals were provided.
According to Phuket-based hospitality consultancy C9Hotelworks, international arrivals at Phuket airport in 2019 exceeded 5mn, while domestic arrivals were just under 4mn, resulting in a total of approximately 9mn visitors by Phuket airport only.
“Looking ahead at the remainder of 2023, we are looking at a balanced recovery led by the Chinese market... We expect a return to 2019 trading by the year-end of this year and the start of a new tourism cycle in 2024," wrote Bill Barnett of C9 Hotelworks in his ’Phuket Hotel Market Update 2023’ in March.