The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is confident that tourism revenue in Phuket this year will reach at least 400 billion baht, reporting that more than 3.6 million tourists visited the resort island in the first quarter.
Lerdchai Wangtrakoondee, director of the provincial TAT office, on Saturay told the media that the number of tourists coming to Phuket from January to March increased by 30% compared to the same period last year.
Revenue earned from tourism in the first quarter was 137 billion baht, which also improved from a year ago.
Phuket may now be entering its off-peak season but the number of hotel reservations on the island has not dropped significantly, he added. Local business operators thus regard the island as having no low season and dub this period of the year “the green season”.
Mr Lerdchai said that during the high season Phuket Airport typically welcomed more than 20,000 tourists daily and the number was usually expected to drop at this time of year.
Currently, the average number of foreign tourists arriving via direct flights is 10,000 per day, compared to about 6,000 during the low season in the past.
Phuket has the most hotel rooms of any province in Thailand, at 101,000. The occupancy rate has declined but not substantially, from 86% in March to 70% in May.
Hotel operators in Patong, Kata, Karon and Phuket City said their revenues had not decreased much. Part of the reason is higher room prices, which have increased by 30% from last year, they said.
Eleven million tourists visited Phuket last year, generating 388 billion baht in revenue.
The majority of business operators do not want this year’s number to exceed 11 million. Excessive growth of tourists would cause traffic issues and congestion in tourist areas, they said.
However, despite the number of tourists, business operators are confident that revenue this year will exceed 400 billion baht following a number of special local TAT promotions.
