Phuket hotel boom set to continue

Development of new hotels in Phuket remains strong, despite ongoing international financial downturn, according to research conducted by leading Thailand hospitality consulting firm, C9 Hotelworks.
A report by C9 states that 30 new hotels are at various stages of development with over 4,918 rooms due to be added to the island’s inventory over the next three years.
 
Currently on the island there are nearly 40,000 rooms in registered tourism establishments, ranging from guest houses up through to branded hotels, with approximately 10,000 of these, or 25% of total supply, being internationally star-rated. Adding in the predicted new inventory will increase supply by 50% of the existing international-standard rooms, with 47% being upscale and luxury hotels, 41% midscale, 9% budget/economy and 3% extended stay (villas/condos). 2009 is set to see the largest surge in supply, with 38% or 1,850 new rooms scheduled to open.

C9 Hotelworks Managing Director, Bill Barnett (pictured), commented; “Significant trends emerging include a greater number of Thai investment entities developing new hotels at the back of both publicly listed firms and private individuals. Much of this can be attributed to the domestic liquidity and greater availability of debt. Branding of hotels is also on the rise with 27 of the 30 hotels operated by international, regional and domestic chains. Thailand based brands such as Anantara and Centara are growing at a rapid pace and regional chains such as Langham are now expanding into the country.”
 
Barnett added that Phuket is seeing a shift of hotel development towards the northern end of the island, in particularly Mai Khao, and even over the bridge into Phang Nga. The east coast and Phang Nga bay is where new luxury resorts, Jumeriah Private Island and Taj Exotica, are currently under construction.