THAILAND MISSING TOURISTS AS INDUSTRY FALLS VICTIM TO US-CHINA TRADE WAR
PHUKET—HOTELS on Thailand’s most popular holiday island have been forced to slash prices with rooms left vacant and beaches sparse as tourist chiefs struggle with a plunge in Chinese visitors caused by the US trade war and a stronger baht.
Located on the Andaman Sea and known for its beaches and nightlife, sun-drenched Phuket was the most visited destination in the country last year after Bangkok and a good gauge of the state of its crucial travel industry.
Tourism accounts for 18 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product and Chinese holidaymakers make up more than a quarter of total arrivals.
But while 2.2 million people from the country visited in 2018, according to official figures, numbers for Januaryseptember were down almost a fifth on-year.
Claude de Crissey, honorary consul of France in Phuket and owner of about 40 rooms in the popular Patong Beach area, said Chinese tourists were usually present even during the current low season.
“That was not the case this year,” he said, adding he had to lower his prices by as much as 50 percent.
The problem is not just in Phuket, with hotels also struggling to fill rooms in the seaside resort of Pattaya on the mainland and Koh Samui island.
Trade tensions with the United States have already made some Chinese reluctant to take holidays owing to uncertainty back home, while the Thai baht has risen around 10 percent against the yuan this year.
A boating disaster off Phuket’s coast that killed 47 Chinese holidaymakers has also scared some off.
“We are worried,” an industry insider told Agence Francepresse (AFP), declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic in a country where tourism provided tens of thousands of jobs.
Adding to the headache is the fact that more than 3,000 new hotel rooms are being constructed on the island, raising the question of who will fill them.
“In terms of business, it’s not good,” said Kongsak Khoopongsakorn, vice president of the association of hotels in Thailand and director of Vijitt Resort. “Because ... we have more hotels, more rooms to sell, we have more restaurants, more coffee shops.”
Still, tourism authority chair Yuthasak Supasorn told AFP he remained “optimistic,” adding: “We should reach our goal of 39.8 million foreign visitors” this year.
However, that is only up from 38.2 million in 2018, much less than the jump seen from the previous year’s total of 35.6 million.