LATEST FIGURES for Phuket International Airport travel reveal that Bangkok's face-off between red protesters and the government will have to grow much worse before tourists are deterred from taking a Phuket holiday.
While staff at Phuket resorts and Phuketwan are constantly being emailed or telephoned with the question ''Is it safe?'' the resounding ''Yes'' answer seems to be being universally accepted by undeterred holidaymakers.
A review of arrival and departure figures for April on Phuket demonstrates remarkable resilience among travellers, both those who transit through Bangkok and others who arrive on direct flights to the island.
''In the low season, about 90 percent of people from overseas who arrive in Bangkok eventually come on to Phuket,'' said Suchart Hirankanokkul, new president of the southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association.
Many resorts start their low season rates immediately after the mid-April Songkran Festival. On April 1, still very much a part of high season, 22,252 visitors came and went through Phuket airport. Just days ago, on April 26, a total of 18,228 passengers arrived or departed.
Allowing for the normal decline from high season to low season, those figures are remarkable, and unlikely to be matched anywhere else in Thailand.
Just yesterday, an official was reported as saying that international arrivals in Bangkok had fallen from 30,000 a day to 21,000 a day. Arrivals on April 23 were down by 41 percent and visitors to Bangkok slipped by an average of 20 percent between April 24 and April 26.
According to the Phuket airport figures, the average daily arrivals and departures total to April 26 has been 19,366, with a high of 23,259 and a low of 13,982.
THAILAND TOURISM, TOTAL VISITORS
International tourist arrivals in Thailand for 2009 totalled 14,149,841. Most popular in order, with rises and declines on 2008 in brackets, are:
1. Malaysians 1,757,813 (down 2.63 percent);
2. Japanese 1,004,453 (down 12.95 percent);
3. British 841,425 (up 1.80 percent);
4. Chinese 777,508 (down 5.95 percent);
5. Laotians 655,034 (up 5.38 percent);
6. Australians 646,705 (down 6.88 percent);
7. Americans 627,074 (down 6.28 percent);
8. Koreans 618,227 (down 30.47 percent);
9. Indians 614,566 (up 14.45 percent);
10. Germans 573,473 (up 5.67 percent);
11. Singaporeans 563,575 (down 1.14 percent);
12. French 427,067 (up 7.19 percent).
While staff at Phuket resorts and Phuketwan are constantly being emailed or telephoned with the question ''Is it safe?'' the resounding ''Yes'' answer seems to be being universally accepted by undeterred holidaymakers.
A review of arrival and departure figures for April on Phuket demonstrates remarkable resilience among travellers, both those who transit through Bangkok and others who arrive on direct flights to the island.
''In the low season, about 90 percent of people from overseas who arrive in Bangkok eventually come on to Phuket,'' said Suchart Hirankanokkul, new president of the southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association.
Many resorts start their low season rates immediately after the mid-April Songkran Festival. On April 1, still very much a part of high season, 22,252 visitors came and went through Phuket airport. Just days ago, on April 26, a total of 18,228 passengers arrived or departed.
Allowing for the normal decline from high season to low season, those figures are remarkable, and unlikely to be matched anywhere else in Thailand.
Just yesterday, an official was reported as saying that international arrivals in Bangkok had fallen from 30,000 a day to 21,000 a day. Arrivals on April 23 were down by 41 percent and visitors to Bangkok slipped by an average of 20 percent between April 24 and April 26.
According to the Phuket airport figures, the average daily arrivals and departures total to April 26 has been 19,366, with a high of 23,259 and a low of 13,982.
THAILAND TOURISM, TOTAL VISITORS
International tourist arrivals in Thailand for 2009 totalled 14,149,841. Most popular in order, with rises and declines on 2008 in brackets, are:
1. Malaysians 1,757,813 (down 2.63 percent);
2. Japanese 1,004,453 (down 12.95 percent);
3. British 841,425 (up 1.80 percent);
4. Chinese 777,508 (down 5.95 percent);
5. Laotians 655,034 (up 5.38 percent);
6. Australians 646,705 (down 6.88 percent);
7. Americans 627,074 (down 6.28 percent);
8. Koreans 618,227 (down 30.47 percent);
9. Indians 614,566 (up 14.45 percent);
10. Germans 573,473 (up 5.67 percent);
11. Singaporeans 563,575 (down 1.14 percent);
12. French 427,067 (up 7.19 percent).
Any figures for arrivals by air? Those figures obviously include visits across the border by all the Malaysians and Laotians - don't think 655,000 people from Laos are coming to Phuket :)
Editor: We've given regular monthly updates on arrivals-departures at Phuket but there is no nationalities breakdown.
Posted by Jamie on April 28, 2010 12:48