An increase in Indian arrivals in the second half of 2019 has headlined the latest Phuket Hotel Market Update from C9 Hotelworks.

Released last week, the report reveals how the addition of direct flights from Mumbai, Dehli and Bengaluru helped to propel numbers by 298 per cent in comparison with the same period in 2018.

Across other markets, year-on-year passenger arrivals declined in Q1 (-4 per cent) and Q2 (-7 per cent) of 2019, due to international economic volatility, China-US trade tensions, and a strong Thai baht.

Long-haul travelers from Australia and European countries (led by Scandinavia, Germany, and Italy) also shrank, while C9 Hotelworks believes Chinese arrivals are now in troubled territory following a negative year-on-year growth rate of -9 per cent.

However, passenger arrivals notably regained momentum in Q3 (3 per cent) and Q4 (8 per cent), with demand led by India, Malaysia, and Singapore. 

In 2019, the total number of passenger arrivals at the Phuket International Airport is forecasted to be 9,109,487, with the December year-on-year monthly 2019 figure forecasted to be up by 8 per cent.

Source: C9 Hotelworks

C9’s Managing Director Bill Barnett said the performance of the hotel sector in the second half of the year would give confidence to operators.

"While 2019 saw a slight drop in occupancy, and marked reduction in average rates and revenue per available room, these are mainly attributed to an appreciating Thai baht and reaction to increased competition in leisure destinations," he said. 

"The latter part of 2019 trending showed higher demand which is encouraging but seasonable challenges remain a key challenge.”

Among the key hotel performance trends highlighted in the report was a second half growth spurt in demand, which drove full-year market-wide occupancy to 72 per cent, according to data from STR, a decrease of 3 per cent from 2018.

C9 believes Thai currency appreciation will continue this year, potentially contributing to a further drop in island average rates, which fell by 6 per cent last year, as well as having a knock-on effect to RevPAR that also stepped back by 10 per cent, largely driven by lower room rates.

Tourism receipts in Phuket for the period January to November 2019 tallied THB416 billion.

Click here to view the latest Phuket Hotel Market Update.

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