Popular Thai Beaches Pricier Than European Resorts: It’s Not Just About the Higher Baht – Skift
Awesome to see someone tell it like it is for once. I have been saying it for years – the quality is down, pricing is up and some places are completely over done.
Some choice quotes:
A Thai holiday pricing has increased by about 30 percent in U.S. dollar terms and 40 percent euros over the last five years due to the appreciation of the baht and inflation, Diethelm’s Group CEO Stephan Roemer pointed out.
“Hotels at the well-known resort areas in Thailand are more expensive than comparable resorts in Europe. I fear a negative impact in the medium to longer term [six to 18 months) particularly for the leisure market to Thailand,” he said.
However, a guest mix heavily slanted towards Asia has become an issue for some upmarket European guests for whom Thailand also appears to be losing a bit of amazingness. This is due to its political situation and overdevelopment, aside from the structural change in market mix.
“Some of the hotels have shifted their guest mix and sell a bigger percentage to the Chinese market. So the atmosphere in the hotel can change to the point where clients tell us they will not go back. This is a very important issue,” said Ruth Landolt, general manager of Asia365, a tour operating company based in Zurich that crafts tailor made tours to Asia for German-speaking markets.
This is best part:
His top grouse with Thailand — and with neighboring destinations such as Vietnam and Cambodia — is overdevelopment.
Kevan foresees many hotels in Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin, and Phuket, in particular, being turned into condos in the next few years due to oversupply and owners wanting a quick capital return. In Vietnam, certain resort destinations are “unrecognizable” from five years ago, he said, while Sihanoukville in Cambodia “is just a disaster on every level unless your focus is solely on low-end Chinese sex and gambling tourism.”
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