BANGKOK, 13 September 2011 -Mr. Prakit Chinamornpong, President of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), is confident Thailand will reap 700 billion THB in revenue from the hospitality industry by the end of this year.
According to Mr. Prakit, the number of tourists will meet the expectation at 1.9 million by the end of this year given that the figure has reached 1.7 million during the first 8 months alone. The cash flow of 700 billion THB has also been estimated when the number of visitors starts to pick up.
During the first 8 months, Bangkok saw the rise in room reservations by 9% compared to last year while Chiangmai will see 50% of room reservations made throughout the year with the Royal Flora 2011 in November expected to draw more tourists to the province.
Room bookings in Phuket and Pang-nga was 70% and 20% full respectively whereas Krabi achieved 24% in room reservations while the 70% of hotel and resort rooms had been occupied on the island of Samui.
However, in spite of that number, Mr. Prakit was concerned since 416 more hotels would be opened this year and another 380 more to its existing 17,000 rooms would be created in 2012 on the island while it was not known if there would be enough tourists for all available rooms.
