Hoteliers want to cap Phuket’s travel

PHUKET  The southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association has suggested that number of tourists visiting Phuket should be kept at an appropriate level to match accommodation capacity.
The chapter president, Krisda Tansakul, said the idea of controlling the number of tourist arrivals to Phuket was floated at a recent meeting attended by the new Tourism and Sports Minister, Kobkarn Wattanawarangkun.
“The idea was floated on how we could screen tourist arrivals with an emphasis on “quality” or high-spending tourists rather than mass tourism,” he said.
inside no 3Hoteliers often raise the issue of quality tourists, illegal hotel operators and the need to cap tourist capacity in the hope the government will introduce restrictions to slow expansion and keep supply and demand in balance.
But in a free wheel economy like Thailand, the pleas for action will go unheeded.
The chapter president said: “Phuket is overwhelmed with tourists many of them arriving in tour groups and the constant expansion prompts a surge in illegal and inexpensive hotels that accommodate budget tourists often leading to price cutting.”
Many four-star hotels have slashed rates to approximate THB2,500 a night in order to remain competitive with three-star hotels, he said adding that there were 70,000 hotel, service apartment and condominium rooms in Phuket, but 60% of them were illegal and evaded tax.
According to tourism ministry data, last year Phuket received 11,339,885 tourists increasing 11.05% from 10,211,885 visits in 2012. Of that, 8,034,981 were foreigners (+11.33%) and 3,304,904 Thais (+10.35%).
In 2013, tourism generated the province of THB241,926.99 million in revenue improving 5.65% from THB228,984.88 million in 2012.

sourced:ttrweekly.com