by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks.com

Increasing hotel supply in Khao Lak with stable tourism growth reflects a destination market entering a new cycle. Khao Lak is a beachside destination an hour and a half drive north from Phuket Airport in Phang Nga province. The upcoming second Greater Phuket airport (in Phang Nga) is expected to push the destination to diversify offerings in a more mature tourism scenario.

Khao Lak differentiates itself from Phuket’s mass tourism as it is dominated by Western travellers. Year-to-date, up to November 2019, the province recorded a total of 970,692 guest arrivals at accommodation establishments with most of the hotels concentrated in Khao Lak. Tourism demand remained stable last year with a slight 0.7% growth.

The existing hotel supply in Khao Lak has 154 properties, representing 10,606 keys. Half of the developments are focused on the beach areas located at the centre of Khao Lak, namely Bang Niang (20%), Nang Thong (23%) and Khuk Kak (7%).

The hotel market continues to be dominated by the wholesale segment with long-haul travellers. Thomas Cook was traditionally one of the largest wholesalers in the market before the company ceased trading in Q3 last year. The impact is expected to be short-term with new bookings redirected through other wholesalers or distribution channels.

Aside from stronger destination awareness contributed by existing and upcoming international branded hotels, the Andaman International Airport which is under development north of Phuket is expected to drive a new market cycle for Khao Lak.

To download and read the “Phang Nga and Khao Lak Hotel Market Report”, click HERE.

In its attempts to restructure the legacy national airline, senior staff of Thai Airways may lease aircraft and cabin staff. The plans are part of fleet and service improvement options as demanded by the Thai Government who had to find 11.1 billion baht over the first 9 months of 2019 to keep the national airline in the skies.

According to Thai Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, Thai Airways plans to invest in 38 planes with a 156 billion baht budget. Whether the new aircraft carrying the purple decal will be bought or leased is yet to be decided.

Minister Saksayam has openly proffered the options of leasing the planes with an outsourced cabin staff or just leasing the planes. The minister has given Thai executives the rest of the year to make up their mind in their restructure plans.

The Transport Minister also chairs the Civil Aviation Commission.

Thai Airways president Sumeth Damrongchaitham says that all aspects are being considered, which needs to take into account the airlines’ flight network and which aircraft models will best serve the airline’s financial makeover.

Short-haul models are currently in short supply with the new Boeing 737 Max grounded until at least the middle of the year, potentially longer, and a years-long waiting list for the Airbus single-aisle equivalent, the A320 Neo models. Last year Airbus also showcased their new A220 model to Thai Airway’s executives as a brand new approach to short haul routes with a capacity of 108-130 passengers and ability to fly equal or longer distances than the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 models, in a 2+3 configuration, rather than the 3+3 of the existing models.

17 of the Thai Airways’ 82 aircraft are due to be decommissioned from the end of this year.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

Squeezing the avocados and smelling the mangoes may become a thing of the past as online grocery buying is quickly growing in popularity.

The intense competition in online grocery sales is expected to surge in 2020. Online Apps like Line, Grab and Lazada are making major inroads into the Thai grocery market valued around 30 billion baht. Pushing the growth is the ‘stay at home’ phenomenon where people try and avoid air pollution, traffic, no plastic bags to conveniently carry any groceries and the free delivery offered by the online shopping providers.

Lazada and Grab have already launched their grocery shopping services, LazMart and GrabFresh. Now Line Man, a subsidiary of Line Thailand, has announced it will partner with HappyFresh, to offer online grocery services. In all cases the shoppers can “scroll through the aisles” online rather than physically walking around a supermarket, select their produce, pay for it and have it delivered – in some cases for free.

Online grocery accounts for 3% of the whole grocery market in Thailand and is expected to rise to 5% in the next two years and 10% by 2025. HappyFresh say they’ve identified their principal market as 25-40 year olds spending an average of 1,200 baht per purchase.

The chief strategic officer of Line Thailand, Jayden Kang, speaking for Line Man, says the next two years are key to Thai customers learning how to leverage online grocery shopping into their busy lives.

“Online grocery is still nascent in Thailand and the main customers now are expats, white collar workers and condominium residents as well as housewives,” as quoted in Bangkok Post.

“With free delivery and urbanisation, the customer base is expected to broaden.”

Line Man already has 3 million active users ordering meals through the current services along with 100,000 restaurant partners for food deliveries.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post