Bangkok Luxury Hotel MarketView Q4 2009

The hotel sector in Bangkok still faced reduced levels of tourism, down 3.8% Y-o-Y, in 2009. This figure is a marked improvement from the first half of the year with Q1 showing Y-o-Y decline of 13.4% and Q2 down 14.4%. The second half of the year showed a Y-o-Y improvement of 5.3% in Q3 and 18.4% in Q4. Easing political tensions and a slowly improving global economic situation are factors in the improvement. The number of tourists arriving in Thailand from East Asian countries, Thailand’s biggest tourist market, increased 20% Y-o-Y and 11% Q-o-Q. There was further positive news from European tourist arrivals, increasing 17% Y-o-Y and 28% Q-o-Q.

As a result of improving market conditions, occupancy levels for luxury and first class hotels in Bangkok saw an improvement to 57% in quarter 4, up from 55% the same period last year and 45% in Q3 2009. However, the Average Daily Rate (ADR) showed a slight decrease, down 12.5% from THB 5,322 in Q3 2009 to THB 4,658 in Q4. Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) was at a rate of THB 2,677 in Q4, up 13.2% from THB 2,365 in the previous quarter. This was an Y-o-Y decline of 13.8% from THB 3,107 in Q4 2008.