Although the hotel market in Bangkok and Thailand has slowed down significantly over the past 2 years due to the disappearance of foreign tourists, almost 40 million foreign tourists a year came to Thailand until 2019. Since 2021, the figure has changed a lot, now it is slightly higher than 400,000 people. The indicator decreased by 98-99%, therefore, the hotel business in Thailand has suffered.
Surachet Kongcheep, managing director of Property DNA, said that many hotels needed to be temporarily closed and may have to be closed permanently. Because there is a problem of a shortage of bank loans or an increase in debts, while the owner expects that they will find income to pay off debts. These are recently opened hotels or inns.
Over the past 2 years, the government has taken measures to promote domestic tourism for Thais to stimulate domestic travel and generate income for various tourist cities. But this policy may only apply to 4-5-star hotels in tourist cities, not medium-sized hotels across the country. Because most Thais prefer to stay in expensive hotels with a discount.
Quarantine hotels for foreigners and Thais have played a big role. But this also applied to large hotels.
Therefore, during the last 2 years, only 4-5-star hotels or large hotels have sufficient income. Medium and small hotels suffered only losses.
Therefore, developers have started new projects of large hotels in the area around Lumpini Park and Sukhumvit, where the most expensive and luxurious projects are in progress. They are expected to be commissioned in 2022-2025. At the moment, about 11,320 new numbers are expected to be created.
Investments in the hotel business are long-term, so new hotels are still being built and put into operation, even in the face of a serious downturn in tourism and the hotel business.
The hotel market continues to attract both Thai and foreign investors, because not only does it continuously generate income in the long run, but it can also be a value-added asset for the company or project owner. It is also an asset that can generate a large amount of working capital when selling real estate to an investment fund, because the project owner can return most of the investment to invest in other projects.