Investors snap up 23 hotels as Thai tourism industry starts improving
A total of 23 hotels in Thailand worth a cumulative 13.2 billion baht were sold to local and foreign investors in 2021, marking a 550 per cent jump from 2020, global property broker Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) reported recently.
Chakkrit Chakrabandhu Na Ayudhya, JLL’s executive vice president for Asia’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, attributed the sharp jump to a recovery in Thailand’s tourism industry and an improved outlook for the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The availability of investment-grade properties at reasonable prices is another factor that drew investors,” he said.
Potential buyers began noticing Thai hotels in the second half of 2021, he said, adding that the total value of Thai hotel sales in 2020 accounted for less than 2 billion baht due to the Covid-19 crisis. However, the value skyrocketed almost six times in 2021.
Most of the hotels sold last year are located in Surat Thani’s Samui island, Bangkok and Phuket – representing 44.3 per cent, 24.6 per cent, and 11.7 per cent of the total value respectively, according to JLL.
“Normally, Bangkok accounts for the highest hotel sales, but Koh Samui came in first last year, not just because more hotels were sold, but also because it had one with the highest price,” said Pimpanga Yomchinda, vice president at JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group.
The 23 hotels sold last year have some 3,000 rooms and their price averaged between 500 million and 600 million baht. The most expensive hotel located on Samui was sold for more than 1 billion baht.
More hotel purchase deals are under negotiation for properties in Bangkok and other destinations popular among tourists, Chakkrit said, adding that some of these hotels were worth more than 1 billion baht.
He said JLL expects the value of Thai hotel sales this year to exceed that of 2021.
