Hotels report bumper New Year

PHUKET TOWN: Resorts and hotels have been full over New Year and the three-star sector has solid bookings for January, but Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi anticipates a possible drop in top-end occupancy rates. “I hear that hotel bookings during the New Year holiday were good,” he told a press conference yesterday. “Three-star hotels, especially, will be full until the end of January. “But I’m not sure about the situation for five-star hotels in Phuket now the New Year is over. I’m expecting a drop because wealthy people are afraid to travel just now.” The main causes, he said, were the tense Iraq-US confrontation and North Korea’s decision to unilaterally restore its nuclear capability.