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Phuket: Double-digit growth dwindles

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PHUKET, 14 March 2019: Despite registering a record high 9 million passenger arrivals at Phuket’s gateway international airport in 2018, performance data indicates that a slowdown in growth rates is on the horizon for Thailand’s top island destination.

That’s the conclusion of C9 Hotelworks newly released Phuket Hotel Market Update.

While airport arrivals grew 8% year-on-year, the gains posted were at their lowest level since 2015 according to consulting group’s managing director Bill Barnett.

Despite the first half of 2018 delivering arrivals that soared by 17% versus the same period in 2017, the second half of the year was marred by the Chinese boat accident, which decelerated momentum and by the end of the year annualized hotel demand had declined by 4%.

Commenting on the rise and fall in performance, C9’s report showed a decline in August through to October eradicated the early gains in the year.

At that juncture, despite negative industry sentiment of a continued drop, a soft landing ensued in the final two months of the year driven mostly on rates, and by year-end the new normal kicked in.

Closing out the outlook on Phuket, one of the key takeaways from the C9 Hotelworks report is that the Indian market is seeing a rapid growth in visits to Phuket. In 2018 Indian travellers recorded a 56% year-on-year increase as direct flights to the island were opened from Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.

“With more airlift coming in 2019, eyes are now turned to the subcontinent as a supplement for the Mainland China mass travel machine,” Barnett commented.

To download C9 Hotelworks Phuket Hotel Market Update

https://www.c9hotelworks.com/downloads/phuket-hotel-market-update-2019-03.pdf

(Source: C9 Hotelworks)

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