Asset World says hotel bookings in Thailand starting to recover

The hotel development unit of billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thailand’s richest man, says bookings have begun to recover from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The epidemic has impacted some 60% of the hotel and retail properties in Asset World Corp’s portfolio, deterring tourism and causing events to be cancelled, according to CEO Wallapa Traisorat.

“We’re starting to see a pickup in bookings now. We’re hopeful that the government campaign to promote domestic tourism will boost the sector.”

Travel restrictions, particularly of Chinese travellers, and fear of the virus’s spread have led to a slump in the tourism sector, on which Thailand heavily relies for economic growth. Wallapa also said footfall in some of Asset World’s malls has declined. The firm develops hotels, shopping malls and office buildings. It was listed on the stock market last year in a 48 billion baht IPO.

The company’s biggest hotel in Bangkok, Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, has had less than 50% occupancy this month, according to Wallapa, and shoppers at its flagship retail destination, Asiatique, have also dropped more than half. But other locations weren’t affected at all, such as a hotel in the popular destination of Hua Hin, mostly used by domestic tourists. That hotel remained fully booked, she said.

“The impact on revenue from the coronavirus is likely to be short term.”

Asset World’s shares have declined about 5.1% this year, compared with a 4.7% slide in Thailand’s benchmark stock market index.

The kingdom has so far reported 35 confirmed cases the virus that spread from China. Of those, 17 have recovered.

Chinese visitors are the biggest source of spending in the Thai tourism sector, and their absence has put the economy on course for expansion of less than 1% in January through March.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post