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Slash prices further, Phuket hotels told
Published on February 12, 2005

Phuket hotels must cut their room rates another 20 to 30 per cent if they are to appeal to foreign tourists again, said a group of British travel agents who are apparently displeased with the 50-per-cent price cuts most hotels are currently offering.

To register the number of guests they had pre-tsunami, hotels and resorts should also come up with aggressive promotional offers, they said.

Keith Betton, a representative of The Association of British Travel Agents, said only further price reductions would attract tourists who focus on price and other special offers.

If they are offered more benefits, then they will soon start showing up to the vacation isle once again, he added.

“We want to help Phuket’s low season by [bringing] more tourists. If hotels can’t cut the rates a bit more, we’ll be fine but we might have to offer destinations such as China,” another travel agent said.

A group of 17 travel agents yesterday met with 45 local hotels and travel agents in Phuket, where they called for additional reductions in room rates.

A British tour operator noted that more special offers would not hurt Phuket’s image as a high-end destination, given that international travellers recognise it would be a temporary measure.

The request was met with a cold response from local hotel operators and representatives from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), who feel that implementing the suggestions would negatively affect the industry’s outlook in the long term.

The industry would be destroyed if hotels offered such heavy discounts, said Opas Netr-ampai, owner of the Club Andaman Phuket and a member of the Tourism Council of Thailand’s executive committee. “If Phuket hoteliers accept this, then we have to give the same rate to all travel agents around the world. This will not be help tourism at all,” he said.

Phuket has many tourism offerings, including natural sites, adventure activities as well as many kinds of hand-made products, Opas said. These can attract tourists all year round.

Instead of recommending slashing rates, the TAT will instead step up marketing activities and promotional offers in all major European markets, said Pornsiri Manoharn, the authority’s deputy governor for international markets.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation

PHUKET