Only 8 foreign tourists visit Hua Hin since November 1 reopening

Despite Thailand’s reopening, the beach destination of Hua Hin is still extremely quiet. The country officially reopened its borders on November 1, and has seen almost 45,000 international visitors arrive in the last two weeks. But in that time, the town of Hua Hin has seen only 8 foreigners arrive.

Hua Hin has historically been a popular beach town in Thailand. Before the pandemic, at this time of year Hua Hin averaged almost 400,000 visitors in 2017 and 2018, according to a report by the hospitality consultancy group C9Hotelworks. Even considering Covid-19, this number of foreign arrivals is much lower than what was expected, reports president of the Thai Spa Association Krod Rojanastien.

Krod thinks that one of the problems that is deterring foreigners is the complicated “Thailand Pass” system for entering the country. He also believes that the government should allow the use of antigen Covid tests instead of the time-consuming PCR, and he would like to see direct flights to Hua Hin open back up, too.

Another advisor to the Hua Hin Cha-am Tourism association reported that hotel bookings for November and December are extremely low. This advisor mentioned that hotels in town are still advising their guests to stay for one night in Bangkok, where PCR tests are cheaper, before traveling on to Hua Hin.

Hua Hin notwithstanding, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has reported that he is pleased with the rising number of international tourists. The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Company has said that they expect the numbers of daily international flights arriving to increase by 25% compared to last month, up to nearly 1,000 a day.

SOURCES: Thai PBS World|C9 Hotelworks