Tourists flocked to the seaside town of Pattaya in Chonburi province on Friday to participate in the “Banrai Songkran Festival”. (Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong)
Hotels in Pattaya and nearby provinces experienced low occupancy rates during the Songkran festival, with hoteliers pointing to flaws in their promotional strategies for the 21-day celebration.
Morrakot Kuldilok, chairman of the Eastern Chapter of the Thailand Hotels Association (THA), said Pattaya’s occupancy rate will reach 70% this weekend as many areas are planning to host the Wanrai Festival from April 16 to 21. Kluea and the main shopping mall in Pattaya.
She said occupancy rates during the peak tourist period of April 13-14 should drop from over 90%.
However, Ms. Moracott said the hotel was expecting a large number of last-minute bookings this weekend.
Visitors to the Wanlai Festival are mostly young tourists from the region and nearby provinces who choose to stay in budget hotels, while some choose to take day trips.
Even the region’s second-tier provinces, such as Chanthaburi, are seeing tourists flocking to Bandai events, she said.
“Despite the economic downturn, domestic tourists will still allocate their travel budget and travel to Pattaya because of the variety of activities and accommodation options, including multiple budget options,” Ms Morakot said.
However, she said families who usually stay at four- or five-star hotels have checked out after the big Songkran festival.
Ms. Moracote said that with international travel sentiment improving significantly during the long holiday period, most hotels are fully operational, including those focused on large tour groups.
She said despite high occupancy rates, Pattaya’s average daily room rate was still below the 2019 average.
Ms Morrakot said revenue was expected to be 80% of 2019 revenue as flights resumed slowly.
She said the government’s 21-day Songkran promotion has no effective strategy and most events across the country are not unique enough and lack good stories to attract tourists.
“Compared to the main tourist attraction, the Pattaya Fireworks Festival, many Songkran activities fail to attract tourists,” Ms Morakot said.
Boonkerd Suksrikarn, general manager of Sunbeam Hotel in Pattaya and former vice-president of the association, said that Chonburi’s Bandai Festival is not well known to foreigners.
Most attendees were locals and expatriates, he said.
Bunkeld said the celebrations should be bigger in scale, with unique storytelling and engaging cultural content to attract foreign tourists.
