• 
• 

Published on December 27, 2007

Operators nationwide can expect only a modest rise in their room rates compared to this year.

THA president Chanin Donavanik said the number of new rooms was expected to increase by 30,000 during 2006-2008, with more than 3,000 set to hit the market next year in the capital.

It would appear that many new hotels are planned for major destinations such as Bangkok, Samui, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai.

"I noticed four hotel categories increasing their presence in the market: guest houses, serviced apartments, boutique hotels and international chains," said Chanin.

He said the new hotels would bring about tougher competition in the coming year, meaning operators would be forced to increase their room rates by less than the adjustment in earlier years.

Hotels normally increase their room rates by 5-10 per cent during October each year as the high season approaches.

The new rate is set for overseas agencies booking in advance for the following year. This year's adjustment is expected to be not more than 5 per cent.

"Next year, hotels will have to work harder due to more than 30,000 rooms being added to the market in the 2006-2008 period, especially in Bangkok, where 3,000 new rooms are set to open. This does not include competition from serviced apartments and guest houses," he said.

Chanin said hotels' average room rate in Thailand was the lowest in the region, being 50 per cent lower than in Singapore and 30 per cent less than in Hong Kong.

"Even hotels in a world heritage city like Luang Prabang in Laos have a higher one than in Thailand," said Chanin.

The association also predicted that operators in Thailand would revise and increase business and marketing strategies in 2008 in a bid to maintain market share. The body also believes that the oversupply of rooms in the Kingdom is causing a drop in occupancy rates.

After the drop in rates throughout 2007, the THA president said hotels must continue to battle against oversupply next year.

According to the THA, the year 2007 was a dark year for Thai hotels following the New Year's Eve bombings, which resulted in overall occupancy rates reaching only 30 per cent.

Chanin said the bombings on New Year's Eve had had a negative effect on several sensitive markets such as Japan, Korea and China.

However, he said that although overall tourism in 2008 was still growing, there was less growth than in some neighbouring countries and it would not exceed this year's projected figures of 14.8 million arrivals.

According to the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), international tourist arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport from January to October this year jumped 5.02 per cent (8,320,183).

East and Southeast Asia had a 2.44-per-cent drop, while the top three markets over the past 10 months remained Japan (966,065), Korea (683,428) and China (624,671), which fell 11.51 per cent.

Declining markets include Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

However, Oceania was up at 22 per cent, the Middle East increased to 16.29 per cent, South East Asia saw a rise to 14.08 per cent, Europe was up at 13.5 per cent, Africa grew 7.25 per cent, and the Americas were up 1.05 per cent.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation