Thai inbound hotel demand up 10%, boosted by high-end arrivals: Expedia
Travel platform Expedia Group has released its latest hotel demand trends for Thailand, which show that Thai accommodation partners are enjoying steady growth, with overall inbound demand increasing by 10 per cent over the past 12 months.
Based on demand generated by Expedia Group’s extensive portfolio of travel brands, the US remains the largest market to Thailand, with demand growing by 20 per cent year on year.
China is the second-largest market to Thailand, surpassing Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea for the first time in two years.
Alongside China’s strong performance, India also upped its game, moving up three ranks to gain a place in Thai’s top 10 international markets.
Noteworthy is that Chinese and Indian travellers show growing appetite for premium accommodation, with more than 60 per cent of the bookings made by Chinese and 55 per cent of those made by Indians being in 4-star and 5-star hotels, Expedia said.
This trend is in line with the Thai’s government focus to attract more high-end arrivals from China and India.
In terms of popular destinations, Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya, unsurprisingly, are the most visited cities among Chinese and Indian travellers.
Hua Hin (110-per-cent growth year on year), Koh Phi Phi (100-per-cent growth) and Koh Lipe (100-per-cent growth) emerge as the rising markets with triple-digit demand increases during the same period.
Expedia data uncovered that Chinese travellers are the driving force behind strong 50-per-cent demand growth for packages into Thailand.
Almost one in three international package bookings were made by Chinese.
China is also the fastest-growing market for packages, as demand skyrocketed by 200 per cent year on year.
India is trending in the same direction, with package demand up by 160 per cent.
Other markets tracking triple-digit growth in package demand include Ireland (130 per cent), South Korea (120 per cent) and Indonesia (100 per cent).