Stranded tourists to receive hotel bill aid

PHUKET CITY: Tourists who have been unable to fly to Bangkok due to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport are to receive discounted hotel bills, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Southern Region 4 Office Director Sathaphan Buddhani told the Gazette in an interview today.

Funding will come from the TAT, the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Chapter) and the Phuket Tourist Association.

Mr Sathaphan said that he believed there are currently between 300 and 400 tourists in Phuket who will qualify for assistance.

To qualify, travelers will need to be able to show they had already booked tickets to fly out from Suvarnabhumi on a day after the airport was forcibly closed by anti-government protesters.

Tourists will need to remain in the hotel they were staying in the night before they were due to fly to qualify for the discount.

Travelers at high-end resorts who qualify will pay a flat 2,000 baht per day for one hotel room and three meals a day, for up to three days, assuming the bill would have totaled more than 2,000 baht.

Travelers whose bill for the same would have totaled 1,000 to 2,000 baht will only need to pay 1,000 baht per day.

Hotel room occupancy rates in Phuket have dropped from 80% to 65%, on average, since the airport closure, Mr Sathaphan added.