The return of tourists to Phuket in numbers expected to exceed
pre-Covid 19 levels by year-end has come with a warning from one of the
island’s key hotel analysts.
C9 Hotelworks managing director Bill Barnett is warning of a
potential “carmageddon” in high season 2023/2024 as Phuket traffic faces
a gridlock scenario “that will have a profound impact on tourists and
residents alike”.
Barnett said the “absolute failure” to bring transportation
infrastructure projects from paper to reality over the past decade will
have long-term repercussions.
“Key projects that have not found their way forward include the
Patong-Kathu tunnel, cross-island expressway and light-rail (LRT). While
the current government has made all the right noise about making these
projects a priority, there is no public sector funding capacity at
present.
“This effectively means that a series of public-private partnerships
or BOT (build-operate transfer) projects are needed to move these to
execution stage. This includes the much-needed Andaman International
Airport.”
Barnett said a surge in full and part-time residents – driven by a
sharp uptick in tourism, an overheating property market and wholesale
return of development activity – has created “massive traffic issues
that are a threat to long-term growth”.
Phuket hotels experienced strong momentum for the first half of 2023.
Russia and China led the way as the two top tourism source markets in
the first six months of the year according to research from C9
Hotelworks in its Phuket Hotel Market Update report. Rounding out the
top five overseas marketplaces were India, Australia and Kazakhstan.
Market-wide hotel occupancy in H1 surpassed the 70% threshold but the
real boost for hotel owners, C9 Hotelworks reported, has been a
sustained post-pandemic trend in higher room rates.
While business has returned to usual for much of the more than 2,000
Phuket registered accommodation establishments encompassing 106,000
rooms, hotel owners and operators have been plagued by recurring staff
shortages.