C9 Hotelworks Releases New Phuket Hotel Update

Hospitality consulting group C9 Hotelworks has released their 2014 Phuket Hotel Market Update.
Looking at the full year 2014, despite a decided impact from the Declaration of Martial Law in May, the brunt of the downturn was compressed into the period of June through September.
By year end airport arrivals were able to pull even compared to year-on-year total passengers in 2013.
That said, a continued increase in new hotel rooms and non-traditional accommodation such as unlicensed hotels, villas and condominium has pushed the market intro stress levels.
Of concern was a sharp drop in Australian visitors to the island and looking forward a more defined impact from the Russian Ruble crisis expected to hit the market harder in the latter high season period of 2015.
Early data from STR Global on January trading is a 7% decline versus the same month on 2014 and market-wide retraction of average room rates from 4-6%, indicating hotels are starting to soften rates to regain demand.
Currency remains a key watchword, as can be seen by the large-scale depreciation of the Ruble and Australian Dollar compared to the US Dollar. Though the exchange rate issue has not fully hit the Phuket market given the propensity of hotels to quote rates in Thai Baht.
It remains deceptive to only take into account Phuket International Airport arrival statistics as a key island health indicator for the tourism sector, as we are continuing to see an increasing number of tourists transit to the growing Khao Lak, Krabi and Phang Nga Bay micro markets.
To view C9's Phuket Hotel Market Update <link>http://www.c9hotelworks.com/downloads/phuket-hotel-market-update-2015-02.pdf*CLICK</link>