Tourism recovery underway, says Phuket TAT chief

The volume of tourists visible across the island saw Thai and foreign tourists flock to popular tourist areas such as Thalang Rd and Soi Rommanee in Phuket Town, and notably the Lard Yai Walking Street market on Sunday night (Nov 27), said a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).

“It is a very good sign of Phuket tourism, together now starting to enter the tourist season,” the report said.

Pol Col Thanet Sukchai, Phuket Immigration Chief reported 934,164 international arrivals from May 1 - Nov 27, 2022, the report added, noting that 914,746 of the arrivals were foreigners and the remaining 19,418 Thais.

The top five source markets for foreign arrivals during the period were Russia, India, Australia, England and Germany, the report added.

Ms Nanthasiri said that tourism in Phuket from Jan-Oct 2022 generated B119.18 billion in income for the island.

With 101,221 rooms available on the island, occupancy averaged 35.04%, she said.

The number of Thai tourists visiting Phuket during the period represented a 41.34% increase compared with 2019, she added.

“It reflects that the Phuket tourism situation has recovered as high as 80%, although there is no Chinese market,” Ms Nanthasiri said, according to the report.

Business establishments have been waiting for almost three years to recover from the poison of [the outbreak of] COVID-19,” she added.

“So now the number of tourists is not a problem of economic recovery,” Ms Nanthasiri continued.

“Most business operators view the challenge in the near future to be the lack of labour in the tourism sector. This is considered to impair the service capability of the establishment, and a challenge for Phuket tourism in the recovery period,” she said.