Most Thai hotels expect third-quarter revenue to fall, while the industry looks to Thai Tiew Thai Plus to support a year-end recovery
Most Thai hotel operators expect a year-on-year revenue decline in the third quarter of 2026, according to a survey by the Thai Hotels Association and the Bank of Thailand.
The decline is anticipated to be most severe for hotels rated three stars or below and for properties in the South, which are facing intense price competition and falling visitor numbers.
Despite the negative outlook, about a quarter of hotels, particularly those with four stars or more, expect their revenue to increase year on year.
The hotel industry is looking to the government's proposed "Thai Tiew Thai Plus" domestic tourism program to stimulate travel and support revenue towards the end of the year.
Most Thai hotel operators expect their revenue to decline year on year during the third quarter of 2026, with lower-rated properties and hotels in the South likely to face the greatest pressure during the low season.
The industry is looking to the government’s proposed Thai Tiew Thai Plus domestic-tourism programme to stimulate travel and support hotel revenue towards the end of the year.
However, the proposed October 1 launch and the scheme’s preliminary benefits remain subject to the Finance Ministry completing its registration and operating systems.
Lower-rated hotels face greater pressure
The outlook was reported in the July 2026 Accommodation Business Confidence Index, produced jointly by the Thai Hotels Association and the Bank of Thailand.
The survey was conducted from July 14 to 31 and received responses from 117 accommodation businesses.
Most respondents expected their third-quarter revenue to be lower than in the corresponding period of 2025.
The decline was expected to be particularly pronounced among hotels rated three stars or below. Geographically, hotels in the South were more likely to suffer declining revenue than properties in other regions because of falling visitor numbers and intense price competition across all hotel categories.
Around one-quarter of the hotels surveyed, particularly properties rated four stars or above, nevertheless expected their revenue to increase year on year.
Some higher-rated hotels were offering promotional room discounts to attract customers. Other operators with distinctive services or stronger selling points reported being able to raise their room rates without reducing their established customer base.
Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said approximately half of hotels across all rating categories expected their average daily room rates to decline year on year in the third quarter.
“About half of hotel businesses across every star category expect their average daily room rate in the third quarter of 2026 to be lower than in the same period last year,” he said.
“This is particularly evident in the South and reflects the continued intensity of price competition compared with last year.”
July occupancy improves but August forecast weakens
Thailand’s average hotel occupancy rate reached 59% in July, increasing from the previous month across every hotel category and region.
The improvement was partly attributed to seasonal factors, including school holidays in several overseas markets.
Hotels nevertheless forecast an average occupancy rate of 56% for August, below the level recorded in the corresponding month of 2025.
The Central region recorded Thailand’s highest occupancy rate in July at 68%, up from 65% in June.
The Eastern region followed at 60%, rising from 53%, while occupancy in the North increased sharply from 37% to 53%.
The South recorded the lowest regional occupancy rate at 49%, although this was an improvement from 42% in June.
Hotels seek tourism stimulus and lower operating costs
Thienprasit said most hotel operators wanted government assistance in five principal areas:
1. Tourism and revenue stimulus
Operators want measures to stimulate domestic tourism, particularly during the low season, while promoting travel to both established destinations and secondary cities.
Proposed activities include tourism roadshows, concerts and other events. Hotels also want more direct flights from markets with strong potential and measures to prevent airfares from becoming excessively expensive.
2. Operating-cost assistance
Hotels are seeking lower energy costs and reductions in government fees.
Operators also want tax relief covering corporate income tax, personal income tax and property-related taxes.
3. Financial support
The industry is seeking measures to improve liquidity, including low-interest loans for businesses renovating or upgrading their hotels.
4. Workforce development
Operators have proposed local training centres to improve hospitality skills within communities.
They also want greater promotion of recruitment channels for skilled workers, particularly employees with language, customer-service and cooking skills.
5. Safety and community infrastructure
Hotels want measures to strengthen confidence in visitor safety.
They are also seeking improvements to public-health infrastructure in local communities to reduce overcrowding at hospitals.
Thailand receives 18.5 million foreign visitors
Thailand welcomed a cumulative 18.5 million international visitors during the first seven months of 2026.
The Tourism and Sports Ministry is seeking to position Thailand as a high-value and sustainable destination during the second half of the year under the theme “Tourism for All, Tourism for the Future”.
The policy prioritises “value over volume”, with greater emphasis on attracting quality visitors and generating higher tourism revenue rather than relying principally on arrival numbers.
The hotel association expects international arrivals to increase, supported by the summer school holidays in China and South Korea, which continue until the end of August.
Industry looks to Thai Tiew Thai Plus
The Thai Hotels Association hopes the government’s tourism strategy and the Thai Tiew Thai Plus programme will stimulate domestic travel and generate revenue for hotels, restaurants, service businesses and tourism operators.
The association also expects the initiative to distribute tourism income across different regions, particularly secondary cities and other destinations the government is seeking to promote.
Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said the government was provisionally planning to launch the programme on October 1.
The Finance Ministry wants the programme to follow the Thais Help Thais Plus 60/40 initiative, which is scheduled to end in September.
Funding is expected to be sought under an emergency borrowing decree to assist Thai businesses affected by the economic crisis.
Under the latest preliminary proposal, participants would receive coupons worth 1,000 baht each.
The coupons would be accepted by a range of service businesses rather than being restricted to restaurants, helping distribute spending more broadly across the service sector.
Each person would be eligible for up to five entitlements, with the coupons provided through Krungthai Bank’s Pao Tang application.
Surasak stressed that the scheme could begin only when the Finance Ministry’s back-end and registration systems were fully ready.
The requirement is intended to prevent system bottlenecks, difficult registration procedures and public confusion of the kind experienced during previous government programmes.
