The Thai resort town of Hua Hin is still very reliant on domestic tourism, a new report has revealed.
C9 Hotelworks’ study revealed that 72% of travellers who stayed at Hua Hin’s hotels in 2014 were Thai nationals. This trend was driven by strong weekend and public holiday traffic, due to Hua Hin’s proximity to Bangkok.
But Hua Hin’s hotel sector is improving. According to data from STR Global, occupancy averaged 68% last year – more than 10 percentage points higher than in 2010.
“A resoundingly strong domestic market has spurred average room rate growth upward to US$130 which is a trend most evident at upscale beachfront hotels,” said C9’s managing director, Bill Barnett.
“The Thailand-based Proud Group who developed the InterContinental resort, Vana Nava water park and are co-investing in the new Bluport mall along with a Holiday Inn managed property are lead indicators of positive long term sentiment.”
In terms of international demand, mainland China was Hua Hin’s fastest growing source market in 2014, with 16% increase in demand. But Europe, led by Germany, the UK and Denmark, still commanded 19% of the market.
On the accommodation front, Thai group TCC is investing a 328-room Marriott hotel which is slated to open in the first quarter of 2016. But there are still only 9,157 hotel rooms in Hua Hin, compared to 46,803 in Phuket and nearly 17,986 in Koh Samui.
One of the key trends noted in the report is the increasing urbanisation of the corridor between nearby Cha Am and Hua Hin, with C9 saying it expects a “series of mega-projects” to be developed in the next decade.
But Barnett warned that “while widespread investment is taking place… the bottleneck in transportation infrastructure poses the most serious roadblock in elevating the destination alongside its domestic and regional competitors.”
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