Samui  island in south Thailand is benefiting from mounting airlift, which is positively impacting on hotel occupancy levels, according to the latest research.

Key findings and forecasts are presented in C9 Hotelworks newly released Samui Hotel Market Update Mid-Year Edition 2016.

During the first six months of 2016 year-on-year international arrivals grew by 18%, as the airport handled  624,914 incoming passengers on both overseas and domestic flights.

As seen in other Thai markets, China led the pack with a 26% rise compared with the same period in 2015, while Australian visitors rose by 21%.

The passenger growth is reflected by a 10% spike in additional flights mainly from Singapore, Malaysia and domestic flights in Thailand.

Taking a look at the effect on hotel occupancy, data from hospitality benchmarking group STR reflects a sharp rise in market-wide occupancy of 7.7% from January through August, though average room rates did not experience the same impact as moved upward by just under 1%.

Looking back over the past three years, while Samui’s hotel performance slumped in 2014 during Thailand’s political crisis, an upward trajectory has been sustained for nearly two years.

Commenting on developments in the tourism sector C9 Hotelworks managing director, Bill Barnett, said: “We are closely looking at the current EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) process for Samui International Airport to increase daily capacity from 50 to 75 flights.”

“This could kick off by 2017 with a phased approach, and would generate a substantial inducement to tourism numbers.”

Meanwhile, Bangkok Airways is planning to further expand China airlift, adding daily scheduled flights from Guangzhou and three-times weekly charter flights from Chongqing by the end of 2016.

Additionally frequencies between Samui and Phuket will be added in the fourth quarter of this year.

Closing out C9’s research on Samui hotel industry, Barnett said: “Bangkok Airway’s plan to extend its cover of Mainland China to accommodate demand in tour series, we forecast a growing supply share of lower-tier hotels, which are already becoming more visible in the pipeline projects.

However, TTR Weekly observed there is still considerable criticism that air fares to Samui are  higher than to other Thai beach destinations. The  Singapore-Samui and Singapore-Phuket routes are often compared. Phuket is served by low-cost airlines and this lowers the fares considerably when compared to flights to Samui, where Bangkok Airways dominates supply.

Phuket-based C9 Hotelworks is led by founder and managing director, Bill Barnett, who has accumulated over 30 years’ experience in the Asian hospitality and real estate sectors.

His company releases tourism and hospitality related forecasts and studies on destinations across ASEAN.

(Source: C9 Hotelworks )

www.c9hotelworks.com

Airports of Thailand reports strong increases in both aircraft movements and passenger traffic at the six airports under its management during August.

AoT reported, late last week, that all of its supervised airports served 10,473,197 passengers, up 9.18% from 9,592,841 when compared with the same month last year.

Overall, aircraft movements also increased by 7.92% from 61,801 to 66,696.

inside no 3During the first eight months of the year, Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport welcomed 38.04 million passengers followed by Don Mueang with 23.63 million and Phuket 10.27 million. Chiang Mai Airport handled6.23 million passengers.

August highlights
Suvarnabhumi Airport registered an increase of 3.07% in international aircraft movements from 21,291to21,944, while domestic movements grew 10.58% from 5,953 to 6,583 movements.
International passenger traffic increased 1.60% from 3,854,552 to 3,916,347, while domestic passengers increased 8.20% from796,255 to 861,547. Overall, it accounted for a 2.73% increase in passengers from 4,650,807 to 4,777,894.

The second aviation gateway, Don Mueang Airport, recorded a 24.89% increase in international aircraft movements from 5,694to7,111. Domestic movements posted an improvement of 2.27% from 13,502 to 13,809.
International passenger traffic increased 36.94% from 815,231 to 1,116,413, while domestic passengers increased 8.29% from 1,812,645 to 1,962,926.

Chiang Mai International Airport continued to show growth in August. International aircraft movements registered a growth of 2.92% (1,370 to1,410), while domestic aircraft movements increased 7.68% (3,920 to 4,221).

International passenger traffic grew 1.18% from 175,371 to 177,443, while domestic traffic gained 11.80% from 547,630 to 612,273.

Phuket International Airport registered an increase of 15.31% in international aircraft movements from3,587 to 4,136, while domestic aircraft movements improved 15.04% from 3,431 to 3,947.
International passenger traffic increased 21.24% from 584,161 to 708,250, while domestic improved 12.36% from 555,041 to 623,583.

Chiang Rai International Airport reported a 9.23% increase of overall aircraft movements from 1,008 to 1,101,while passenger traffic grew 12.39% from140,882 to 158,333.

Hat Yai International Airport reported an overall aircraft movement improved 19.02% from 2,045 to 2,434 in August. Meanwhile, overall passenger traffic registered an 8.02% increase from 311,073 to 336,012 passengers.

Phuket will host its annual Vegetarian Festival, 1 to 9 October, which attempts to give a traditional Chinese religious event a modern message for us to eat right.

The nine-day festival has its roots in community associations formed by early Chinese settlers, who migrated to Phuket from neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong during the last century.

The Vegetarian Festival, called Prapheni Kin Jay or Prapheni Kin Phak in Thai (The Festival for Eating Vegetables), is now one of the major annual events on the Phuket calendar. It is also celebrated in all major towns in Thailand where Chinese migrants settled.

inside no 5Held in either September, or October, depending on the lunar calendar, the festival celebrates the Chinese belief that abstinence from meat, sex, alcohol, and other worldly activities, during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help people to attain good health and a tranquil peace of mind for the rest of the year.

Though the origins of the festival remain unclear, it is believed that the festival was started in Phuket after an itinerant Chinese opera troupe fell ill with malaria, while performing on the island. The troupe then kept to a strict vegetarian diet and performed various rituals to two of their emperor gods.
They recovered quickly and this greatly impressed the local population, who embraced the ceremonies that are now the core elements of the festival today.

Thousands of people converge on the island every year to enjoy the festivities. The most talked about feature is the sight of devotees piercing their flesh with sharp objects in acts of self-mortification usually under a self-induced trance.

The local ethnic Chinese community, estimated at around a third of Phuket’s population, believes that these sacred rituals will chase away evil from the community, while bestowing good luck and fortune.

The festivities always include clusters of stalls serving vegetarian food cooked Chinese style. It is quite common for Thai families, whatever their ethnic links, to adhere to a vegetarian diet for the duration of this Chinese religious festival, ordering vegetarian dishes from shops and street-side stalls decorated in distinctive yellow and red bunting.

The main temple for the event on Phuket island is the Jui Tui Shrine, located near the fresh market in Phuket Town, although it is now hosted in areas around six Chinese temples on the island.

Visitors who want to get the most out of this event should visit the five oldest shrines in Phuket: Put Jaw, Jui Tui, Bang Neow, Cherng Talay, and Kathu Shrine.

Tourism Authority of Thailand’s office in Phuket has issued a detailed schedule of the festivities and processions in English, Thai and Chinese, available free at all participating shrines and at the TAT’s Phuket office located next to Queen Sirikit Park on Thalang Road in Phuket Town.

Travellers to Bangkok can join the vegetarian festival along Yaowarat Road, popularly known as Bangkok’s Chinatown. It attracts fans both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Restaurants and street stalls across the city put up yellow flags to announce their participation in the festival. Some still serve non-vegetarian dishes, but the trend is to go pure vegetarian for the entire duration of the festival.

Many non-religious participants opt to go pure vegetarian for health reasons, mainly as a form of detoxification or a change from their standard meat diet.

Once the festival is over the street side vendors and restaurants revert to serving dishes that require the slaughter of animals. Outside of the festival dates, vegetarian food is not easy to find in Thailand’s food courts and streets, an indication that whatever this festival preaches it is not taken seriously for the rest of the year.

Tourism Council of Thailand estimates international tourist arrivals to Thailand could reach 9.15 million during the last quarter, October to December, generating THB469,350 million in revenue.

Speaking at the council’s press conference, Wednesday, TCT president Ittirit Kinglek also noted that the Thailand Tourism Confidence Index indicated a level of 102 in Q4 compared to the confidence benchmark of 100. The index is based on data from 600 tour agencies.

The index for Q3 reported a level of 98.

“Foreign tourists have increased steadily since the beginning of the year…Q4 is the peak tourism season and also has various festivals and holidays, which will encourage more travellers to visit the country,” he said.

Usually the peak winter season gets into gear mid-October and starts in earnest in November extending through to February at popular beach resorts. However, the peak season for the Thai capital differ with just a couple of months each year when travel slows dramatically (August and September).

It is still unclear if the crackdown on zero dollar tourism will cut tourist arrivals from China over the next couple of months, but travel executives told TTR Weekly that at the new minimum selling price of just THB1,000 per person, per day it should not have a marked impact on the country’s tourism related revenue.

Up until the crackdown the daily rate was considerably lower, well below breakeven costs for travel suppliers.

The council expects 2.61 million Chinese tourists to visit Thailand during the fourth quarter, up 43.49%. The overall number could reach 10.19 million visits by the end of the year.

For the last quarter of this year, TCT estimates that there will be 9.15 million international travellers up 17.76% over the same quarter last year.

Of that, 2.65 million visits would come from ASEAN (+20.82%), 3.29 million from the Middle East (+17.52%) and 1.89 million from Europe (+11.85%).

The new terminal at Phuket International Airport will open at midnight tonight, providing a much-needed capacity boost for the island.

The Bangkok Post reports that all international flights will be shifted to the new terminal from 15 September. And with months of trials already having been conducted, the airport will be hoping for a seamless launch. In total, 35 airlines will operate international flights to and from the new terminal, including multiple Chinese charter carriers.

“Transit through Phuket airport by international passengers will be absolutely more convenient, smoother and a nice experience,” Monrudee Gettuphan, Phuket Airport’s general manager, told the Bangkok Post.

Phuket Airport handled 12.86 million passengers and 84,758 take-offs and landings in 2015, making it Thailand’s third busiest airport after Bangkok’s two hubs – Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang.

But the airport is already over-capacity and continued double-digit growth, driven mainly by surging inbound tourist traffic from China, has put severe pressure on the airport’s infrastructure.

The new four-storey terminal, which was developed at a cost of THB5.14 billion (US$147 million), will be able to accommodate five million passengers per year. Space constraints at the seaside airport however, mean that Phuket will continue to operate a single runway.

An officially opening ceremony will be held on Friday morning, attended by Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha.

Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today confirmed that the Highways Department has decided on the route the planned 12-lane expressway from Koh Kaew to Phuket International Airport costing B5.5 billion will take.

Governor Chamroen announced the route at a public meeting held at Phuket Rajabhat University today (Sept 6).

Present at the meeting were Phuket Provincial Office Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Pakphom Intarasuwan and Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Surachai Chaiwat.

Highways Department Engineer Paisan Suwanrak explained at the meeting that the initial proposal to make the road four lanes wide each way had been expanded to now make the road six lanes each way.

The extra two new lanes each way will comprise one lane reserved for motorcycles, and one lane one each side of the expressway being reserved for bicycles.

“The road aims to ease traffic congestion to Phuket Town,” he said. “It will have will five overpasses, and will be 80 metres wide and 22.7km long.”

The road will start near Thalang Technical College, pass Bang Khanoon protected forest and the Heroines’ Monument and conclude at Koh Kaew about 700 metres north of the Bang Ku Underpass.

“The project team aims to have the plans finalised by April 2017, then we will proceed with construction. The new road is expected to be complete in 2022,” Mr Paisan said.

Gov Chamroen explained that the meeting held today was to follow up on the project’s progress and to let the public know that the Highways Department had made finalised its decision on the location for the new road, and had selected the best plan for the area.

“Local government authorities involved in the project and residents living in the areas that will be affected have been informed of the current update on the project,” Gov Chamroen said.

“We also wanted to give the opportunity for everyone to express their opinions or give advice on the project so officials could gather the information from the meeting today to help with the survey and design for this project,” he said.

Vietnamese low-cost airline Vietjet announced its ‘domestic debut’ in Thailand on September 6 and the launch of new flight routes from Phuket to Bangkok and Chiang Rai this month.

The ‘new-age’ airline already flies from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and operates 53 routes in Vietnam and to Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China and Myanmar with A320 and A321 aircraft.

The new daily Phuket-Bangkok route takes off on September 15 as does the Phuket-Chiang Rai route, which flies three days a week. The airline is also launching daily flights on a Bangkok-Chiang Mai route starting September 26.

The budget airline also unveiled a promotion campaign to tie in with the new route launches, offering one million ‘zero-baht’ promotional air tickets for bookings made from September 9 to September 11 for passengers booking flights during specific periods on its website.

Speaking at the launch event, Tourism and Sports Minister, HE Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, said the new low-cost routes would help foster relations between Thailand and Vietnam, in line with the mission of TAT’s ‘Two Countries, One Destination’ program, which has been running since last year.

Vietjet’s Vice President, Madam Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh, said: “Three years ago, Thailand became Vietjet’s first international destination. Thailand and Vietnam have shared a close relationship thanks to our similarities in culture, cuisine and character. There are now more than 300 Thai expats working in a variety of positions at Vietjet, which is also a driving force for us to further expand our flight network in Thailand today,”

A fare war between airlines on international routes has led to Australian travellers paying just over $1000 for flights on the so-called kangaroo route to London.

The record low fares to the United Kingdom and other top overseas destinations for Australians are the result of airlines boosting capacity on international routes more than 9 per cent over the past year, outpacing the level of demand from travellers.

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In turn, an increase in the number of empty seats on planes has forced airlines to lower fares in the hope of stimulating demand.

The largest fall in prices over the past year has been to popular destinations such as London, Los Angeles, Phuket and New York.

The cheapest tickets for return flights to London have slumped 23 per cent over the past year to $1043, while for Los Angeles and New York they are down more than 11 per cent to $939 and $1199 respectively. The prices are based on return fares sold in early September.

Fares for flights to the Thai tourist destination of Phuket have more than halved to $373, the figures from Australia’s largest travel company. Flight Centre, show.

While budget airlines remain competitive, a number of the super-low fares are for flights on full-service airlines such as Etihad. The cornerstone shareholder in Virgin Australia recently replaced Thai Airways in the top-10 airlines in terms of market share on routes to Australia.

In a sign of how much fares have fallen, an average week’s wage in Australia can now pay for the cost of a return economy flight to London. Seven decades ago, it would have cost about $131,000 in today’s dollars, or about two years’ salary, according to Flight Centre.

Flight Centre spokesman Haydn Long said airlines were chasing market share on international routes, which had resulted in record low fares to destinations such as London and New York.

“In short, there are more seats, but there are also more empty seats. This creates pricing pressure,” he said.

In Australia, average international airfare prices fell 4 per cent in the six months to June. Flight Centre has dubbed it a “golden era for travel”, a year after predicting that fares could not drop any further.

The return of Qantas’ alliance partner, American Airlines, to routes between the US and Australia in late 2015 after a long absence has piled pressure on incumbents Virgin, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines and United.

The latest government statistics show the total number of seats on international flights to and from Australia surged by more than 9 per cent in the year to June. Airlines filled 76.5 per cent of the seats in the market in June, down from 77.4 per cent a year earlier.

Low fuel prices have acted as a buffer for airlines’ profitability from the steep discounting of fares on international routes.

However, it has been a different story for travel companies such as Flight Centre, whose commissioned-based earnings from selling flights have been curtailed.

And while travellers flying abroad are benefiting from record low fares, discounting in the domestic market has been more subdued.

The truce between Qantas and Virgin has held since it was declared in 2014, following several years of intense competition that dented the earnings of both airlines.

Deutsche Bank analysts told investors that the “the domestic market appears to be in balance competitively”, although demand had been weaker in July and August.

Thailand’s six main airports reported 71,634,730 passenger movements during the first seven months of the year with 33,266,963 passing through Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport alone.

During July, Airports of Thailand reported strong increases in both aircraft movements and passenger traffic at all six airports under its management.

All of the airports under its management served 10,562,575 passengers, up 13.91% from 9,272,962 when compared with the same month last year.

inside no 1 Overall aircraft movements also increased by 9.44% from 60,665 to 66,392.

During the first seven months of the year, the country main gateway Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport welcomed 33.26 million passengers followed by Don Mueang with 20.55 million and Phuket 8.94 million. Chiang Mai Airport handled 5.44 million passengers.

July highlights
Suvarnabhumi Airport registered an increase of 4.63% in international aircraft movements from 21,188 to 22,170, while domestic movements grew 8.13% from 5,718 to 6,183 movements.

International passenger traffic increased 6.95% from 3,766,323 to 4,028,256, while domestic passengers increased 13.91% from 736,626 to 839,085. Overall, it accounted for an 8.09% increase in passengers from 4,502,949 to 4,867,341.

The second aviation gateway, Don Mueang Airport, recorded a 23.96% increase of international aircraft movement from 5,605 to 6,948. Domestic movement posted an improvement of 6.45% from 13,083 to 13,927.
International passenger traffic increased 36.51% from 800,620 to 1,092,914, while domestic passengers increased 12.86% from 1,777,413 to 2,005,995.

Chiang Mai International Airport continued to show growth in July. International aircraft movements registered a growth of 10.21% (1,352 to 1,490), while domestic aircraft movements increased 7.84% (3,902 to 4,208).

International passenger traffic grew 14.06% from 163,097 to 186,022, while domestic traffic gained 16.46% from 545,062 to 634,804.

Phuket International Airport registered an increase of 12.66% in international aircraft movements from 3,491 to 3,933, while domestic aircraft movements improved 18.59% from 2,000 to 3,993.
International passenger traffic increased 18.80% from 546,682 to 649,437, while domestic improved 25.13% from 496,638 to 621,436.

Chiang Rai International Airport reported a 10.33% increase of overall aircraft movements from 987 to 1,089 while passenger traffic grew 14.87% from 137,004 to 157,375.

Hat Yai International Airport reported an overall aircraft movement improved 24.29% from 1,972 to 2,451 in July. Overall passenger traffic registered a 14.42% increase from 303,497 to 347,251 passengers.

Until recently August has been traditionally the month marking the lowest number of Russian arrivals to Thailand – and in particular, Phuket – but with Egypt and Turkey unavailable and other destinations too expensive, Russians have started returning to the Land of Smiles attractive even in the midst of the rainy season, Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) reports.

ATOR, whose members include Russian tourism powerhouses Biblio Globus, Coral Travel, Intourist, Natalie Tours, Pegas Touristik and TUI Travel, are reporting that affordable prices are now the key factor determining their clients’ travel decisions and that the industry is taking steps to meet the demand for cheaper options with extra charter flights, seasonal promotions by hotels and shorter duration of stay.

According to ATOR’s analytical service, the average duration of stay for Russians arriving to Thailand on organised tours in August fell to seven to 10 days (compared with 12-14 days last year), while the average price of a tour to Phuket dropped 10-12 per cent to US$700 (about B24,207) from Moscow and to US$500 (about B17,291) from Eastern Russia.

“More and more often it is the budget, not the weather, that determines the choice of destination by tourists. For instance, traditionally Koh Samui used to be popular in summer because of nearly zero rain and storms, but this year the island is less popular than Phuket, where to the contrary the weather is unpredictable, but direct charter flights are available and cheap hotels are aplenty,” says Tatiana Dashkova from ATOR member-company Russian Express.

Ms Dashkova’s colleagues from Intourist believe that direct charter flights by major operators are one of the factors determining Thailand’s rising popularity among Russians in the low season. Transportation costs account for a significant share of a packaged tour price and using charters instead of scheduled flights let operators make their offers cheaper.

Proving this point, several tour operators earlier this year launched new direct flights to Phuket from various Russian cities. Rossiya Airlines now has two charter flights to Thailand per week transporting clients of Biblio Globus/Sayama. Meanwhile, Royal Flight has launched direct charters from Moscow to Phuket for Coral Travel and Sunmar operators, while AZUR air now has four to five flights to Phuket and three flights to Bangkok for ANEX Tour. The latter enjoys clients with an average duration of stay of 11 nights with the average tour price of US$628 (B21,717) per person, ATOR reports.

“The choice of these three particular destination is driven by both availability of wide combined programmes with other destinations and demand for simple beach vacations ‘a la Bounty’ (sic). At the same time tours to Pattaya are losing attractiveness this year resulting in fewer flights to Bangkok,” says a spokesperson for Intourist tour operator.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects about one million Russians arrivals to the Kingdom in 2016, up 13% from last year. ATOR members highlight that chances to reach this target hugely depend on several factors, including the number of flights and availability of competing destinations, specifically Egypt.

Flights to Egypt were banned by the Russian government last year due to safety reasons, but Egypt is pushing hard to persuade Russia that northeast African country is ready to accept tourists again. For now Thailand’s key competitor for mass tourists is out of the game, yet it is still unclear when the ban might be lifted.

“Judging from today’s perspective, the numbers of flights [to Thailand] in the winter period of 2016-2017 will be more than enough. Thus ‘last minute’ [affordable] tickets and tours will be aplenty. Of course if no outside force intervenes and makes adjustments to our plans for winter season,” ATOR quotes Intourist’s representatives as saying.