Hotels in Thailand are largely free of foreign tourists due to complicated and expensive Covid-19 entry rules A whopping 63% of hotels in Thailand are still recording losses in February 2022, due to continued restrictions two years after the Covid-19 pandemic and a slow recovery in tourist arrivals. The latter is largely due to the country’s unpopular “Test & Go” entry program, which requires extensive paperwork and additional costs for potential visitors. Average hotel occupancy rates hover below 30%, according to the Hotelier Sentiment Index released in February.
A whopping 63% of hotels in Thailand are still recording losses in February 2022, due to continued restrictions two years after the Covid-19 pandemic and a slow recovery in tourist arrivals.
The latter is largely due to the country’s unpopular “Test & Go” entry program, which requires extensive paperwork and additional costs for potential visitors.
According to the Hotelier Sentiment Index for February released by the Thai Hotels Association, the average hotel occupancy rate is hovering below 30%.
The association’s president, Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, said that for most hotels, an occupancy rate of 30 percent should be enough to break even, but only 37 percent of hotels achieved that for the month.
“Despite the resumption of the Test & Go programme, local tourists are still our main customers. Almost half of the 127 hoteliers surveyed indicated that bookings from international guests are less than 10%,” Nunbhakdi said.
Unpopular “Test & Go” Program
She pointed out that the drop in tourist numbers was largely attributable to the impediment of travel rules, particularly RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 and the complex and sometimes erroneous “Thailand Pass” registrations for the Test & Go programme.
Additionally, some 51% of respondents said that liquidity in February was down from the previous month, while 45% said they had only enough liquidity left due to intense competition in the travel market and housing prices still low Less than three months.
Only 19 percent of hotels now earn half of what they were earning before the Covid-19 crisis hit Thailand’s tourism industry, Nunbhakdi said, adding that the hotels had an occupancy rate of about 40 percent last month.
Only 59.8% of hotel workers return to the industry
Employment in the industry has also been hit hard. The employment rate fell to 59.8% as most hotels stopped hiring more permanent staff, preferring to keep the same salary or opt for part-time staff. Research shows that only 11% of hotels raise wages to retain existing staff or recruit new staff.
In February, 3% of hotels in Thailand remained closed for more than six months.
