Bangkok has made a new record of international arrivals again, so what’s next? Following a robust year in 2016, the growth momentum continued in 2017, and is fully expected to continue on into 2018.

The city’s upbeat performance is a fruition of hoteliers’ hard work and a little bit of luck when China shut the door to South Korea and Mount Agung in Bali did Thailand a big favour. The Bangkok hotel market enjoyed booming demand across the board with gravitation toward intraregional travels.

2018 outlook remains bright and positive but what lies ahead? One must ask oneself, “Are we reaching the peak after a long uphill battle or this is simply a moment before a flight takes off?”

In all fairness, it is the million dollar question. Despite big numbers of visitation statistics, we must not forget that the two Bangkok airports, the city’s heart and soul feeding tourists to all hotel submarkets, are operating beyond capacity. Until bottlenecks are unlocked, we will likely see smaller waves of single-digit growth for consecutive years.

Mass tourism could lose its way to repeat success stories as owners and developers, local and international, are jumping on the bandwagon and supply is playing catchup. Identifying a niche spot and crafting an irreplicable product would prove to be a strenuous task but eventually rewarding with a competitive advantage from high barriers to entry.

There are plenty of beautiful properties built without knowing customer profile and they are ready to undercut one another for survival. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

So, infrastructure is a first and foremost step to success. This is attested by developed metropolises like Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong commanding big bucks of tourism spending. New demand generators are being developed as we see more (mega) mixed use complexes sprawling throughout Bangkok.

The goal is to capitalize on a new genre of discerning and experiential travellers who pay for what they value rather than a good value for money. If things go as planned in an orderly and coherent fashion, everyone’s hope of witnessing Bangkok benchmarked with other big names will not be just a dream.

It is great to think long term, but regardless the city’s destiny may be decided at the upcoming election, tentatively scheduled in late 2018/early 2019. Another domestic quarrel with bad press could send the hotel market back to where it had been not long before. Then, hoteliers can only wink and wait patiently for the blue sky after a big storm as tourists start to play a merry-go-round again.

Read the full report here.

About C9 Hotelworks
C9 Hotelworks is led by founder and Managing Director Bill Barnett, who brings over 30 years' experience in the Asian hospitality and real estate sectors.

Prior to founding C9 in 2003, Bill held senior executive roles in hotel operations, development and asset management. He is considered to be a leading global authority on hotel residences, and has sat at almost every seat around the hospitality and real estate table.

Bill promotes industry insight through regular conference presentations at key events and contributes to numerous industry publications. www.c9hotelworks.com