The harsh reality of hotel performance is that one public holiday, a string of Saturdays or even decent domestic leisure travel will ultimately not be enough for struggling hoteliers, and a broader recovery of travel is needed.
But Songkran — the celebration of Thailand's New Year — in April brought modest relief across various accommodation providers in Thailand along with a much needed smile for a few days.
Thailand's Krabi province achieved a very respectable 81% hotel occupancy on Sunday April 11, and attained a solid average over the full seven-day period that culminated with Songkran from April 12-15. While the occupancy peaks were both shorter and lower in Samui and Phuket, peaking at 61% and 46%, respectively, it was certainly a change in scenery from the past 12 months.
Conversely, hotel performance in the top usual weekend hot spots of Hua Hin and Pattaya, within driving distance from Bangkok, was more muted as Thai people headed for the islands instead, with Hua Hin hotels peaking at 61% occupancy. The northwest city of Chiang Mai has yet to recover the weekend spikes that were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. But what unifies all markets is that since Songkran demand has dropped everywhere and most markets are down to single-digit occupancy.
The backdrop is currently quite grim as Thailand has entered a new COVID-19 wave and is in the midst of clearing hospital beds, controlling rapidly increasing cases as well as mortality rate.
While Songkran offered a brief respite and hopes and plans were drawn for a Phuket reopening to international travelers in July, the long-term goal to enable tourism to return for the next peak season in the fourth quarter of 2021 requires decisive action through continued waves to instill confidence in future arrivals.
Hotel occupancy on the books is gently picking up for the fourth quarter — as tourists from Scandinavian countries are booking both hotels and villas for December and January — so the interest and potential in Thailand is not the question.
The question is rather if Thailand can be ready in time.
Jesper Palmqvist is area director for the Asia-Pacific at STR, CoStar Group's hospitality analytics division. He is based in Singapore.
This article represents an interpretation of data collected by CoStar's hospitality analytics firm STR.