Phuket Expecting Record Visitor Arrivals

 Phuket Airport is expecting a record four million passenger arrivals this year.

 According to data released by C9 Hotelworks, arrivals in H1 2011 to the popular Thai resort destination increased 20% y-o-y.

These numbers are straining the handling capacity of the airport with AOT expecting 7.95 million passengers in 2011, which will exceed capacity by 22%.

A US$164 million expansion plan that will increase handling to 12.5 million by 2014 is scheduled to start construction next year and tourism operators are increasingly concerned over the mounting delays experienced by travellers.

The island's top five tourism source markets (in order) to date for 2011 are China, Russia, Australia, South Korea and Sweden.

A leading indicator in the cyclical development was shown in 2010 when charter flights hit their highest ever level. This equated to a 153% increase in y-o-y growth.

As guest demographics evolve, the colourful Patong area which accounts for 35% of the 43,571 accommodation rooms on the island, produced an occupancy rate of 82% in H1 2011, with China and Russia now taking a quarter share of the market.

“First half trading by volume markets saw a surge in Phuket’s average occupancy across all hotel tiers to 73%. Key market metric RevPAR moved up to its highest level since the global financial crises in 2008,” said C9 Hotelwork’s Managing Director, Bill Barnett. “As long as the infrastructure keeps pace with the increased numbers of tourists and expansion of hotels and faculties are well planned and implemented, hotels will be able to properly manage their room rates in line with the supply and demand dynamics.”

C9 Hotelworks’ Phuket Hotel Market Update shows a supply pipeline for the island of 6,968 rooms. This will see an increase of 16% by the end of 2014.

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