Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day to inject B2bn into Phuket economy

PHUKET: More than 300,000 tourists are expected to visit Phuket this month for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, altogether providing a boost of more than 2 billion baht to the Phuket economy.

Chanchai Duangjit, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket office, told the Phuket Gazette that tourists from China make up the majority of hotel bookings for the period.

“The bulk of the remaining bookings are by tourists from Russia and Australia, and European countries such as Germany, Sweden and England,” Mr Chanchai explained.

Overall room bookings for February are currently at about 80 per cent capacity, continuing the high occupancy rates of December and January, Mr Chanchai said.

“Hotels in beach areas such as Cape Panwa, Kata, Karon, Patong, Surin and Kamala are 75% to 80% booked, and the occupancy rates in Phuket Town are reported at about 70% to 75%,” he said.

Last year, Phuket TAT office Director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon estimated that Chinese New Year alone would generate 900mn baht for the local economy (story here).

— Kritsada Mueanhawong