Destination continues to chase tail of sustainable growth, weekend peak period continues to define tourism footprint.
“The tourism profile of Hua Hin tracked other Thai stressed resort markets in 2014, with a year-on-year occupancy decline of just over -4%.
That said,average room rates pushed upward but the demand variance negatively impacted RevPAR, resulting in a -1.4% drop compared to the previous year.
Taking a broader perspective for the period of 2010 to 2014, average room rates have risen from US$116 to US$130, with a 5-year CAGR of 3% while room night demand has strengthened from 57% to 68%. This has pushed up market-wide RevPAR which surged by 7%.
A resoundingly strong domestic segment is continuing to spur upward rate growth which is a trend most evident at upscale beachfront hotels. But the inability to fill empty rooms during the week poses questions over whether an anticipated long-term shift in broader maturity is possible?
While widespread private sector investment is taking place in demand generators such as tourism attractions,upscale retail complexes and sporting facilities, the bottleneck in transportation infrastructure poses the most serious roadblock to elevating the destination alongside it’s domestic and regional competition.” (Bill Barnett, Managing Director, C9 Hotelworks)
2014 Trends:
- Hua Hin continued to rely on a highly-leverageddomestic segment which accounted for 72% of totalvisitors in 2014. This tracked a similar trend of 71%for 2013 and 72% in 2012.
- Market-wide hotel performance in 2014 reflected anaverage daily rate of US$130 and occupancy of68%. RevPAR tallied in at US$88.
- Traditional trading has continued with December to April remaining as high season and the lowest demand in the months of June and September.
Forward Outlook:
- There are currently 691 keys in the hotel development pipeline which will enter supply between 2015 and 2018. A sharp rise in condominium product isincreasingly becoming predatory to the hotel sector.
- China and Hong Kong SAR are emerging as leading geographic sources markets with year-on-year growth of 16% and 15%.
- An urbanizing trend of the Hua Hin and Cha Am corridor is rapidly evolving, with vast land tracts in the latter being planned for mega projects.
Tourism Indicators
- Aside from a large-scale domestic visitor profile, Western Europe is the top international source of business. It accounted for 495,698 visitors in 2013, which equates to a 19% share of the destination’s segmentation.
Key Infrastructure Highlights
Hotel Performance
Hotel Openings
- In 2014, there were 9,157 keys in registered accommodation establishments in Hua Hin. This compares to 46,803 for Phuket and 17,986 in Samui.
Bill Barnett is the Founder and Managing Director of C9 Hotelworks, who are a leading consulting firm specializing in hotels, tourism and property development in Asia Pacific. C9 assists developers, private equity and financial institutions, and investors in providing market research, feasibility studies, hotel operator negotiations, asset management and transaction/due diligence support. From their base of operations in Thailand the group is considered a leading regional player in market intelligence, and publish regular industry updates.
For more information contact www.c9hotelworks.com
