PHUKET: Foreign arrivals to Phuket in May dropped by 26.3% compared to the previous month, mainly due to the end of the high season and a sluggish recovery in the Chinese market which officials are now trying to address. Despite this decline, overall visitor numbers comprise about two-thirds of the pre-pandemic levels, indicating a steady recovery in Phuket’s tourism sector.
According to the June 1 report by Phuket Immigration, direct international arrivals to Phuket airport in May totaled 224,357 visits, marking a 26.3% drop from 304,485 visits in April and a 38.3% drop from 363,752 visits in March.
However, these figures align with the expectations set by the President of the Phuket Tourist Association (PTA), Thaneth Tantipiriyakij, who predicted approximately 50% of pre-COVID levels during the current low season. In fact, when compared to the May 2019 figures reported by C9 Hotelworks, this May’s numbers are even higher, accounting for around 67-68% of the visitor volume recorded four years ago.
In May 2019, Phuket airport registered 592,714 visits, of which approximately 313,919 were international arrivals. The current figure of 224,357 visits is much closer to that number than the 86,400 foreign arrivals recorded in May 2022 (although even 86,400 at that time was considered positive news for an industry severely impacted by the pandemic).
It’s important to note that the Phuket Immigration report for May 2023 only includes direct arrivals, meaning passengers passing through passport control on the island. It does not account for the significant number of indirect Phuket arrivals, which are travelers who fly through Bangkok and clear immigration at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The top five countries by direct arrivals in May were as follows:
- China: 37,949;
- Russia: 26,624;
- Australia: 19,828;
- India: 19,783;
- Malaysia: 12,918.
However, these numbers reflect a decline in arrivals from all the key markets in May. Chinese arrivals dropped by 18.7%, visits from Russia plunged by 58.1%, visits from India decreased by 20.5%, and visits from Australia declined by 14.9%. Data for the Malaysian market is not available for comparison as it did not feature in the top five in April.
The markets of Russia, China, India, and Australia were the largest throughout the entire five-month period of 2023, according to Lertchai Wangtrakuldee, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)’s Phuket Office.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post, Mr Lertchai stated that Phuket had welcomed over 6 million international tourists from January to May 2023, with Russians comprising the largest group among them. He added that with the onset of the rainy season, there may be a slight decline in the number of international visitors.
Mr Lertchai did not provide further details regarding the arrivals included in his total of 6mn international tourists. According to C9 Hotelworks, overall arrivals to Phuket airport during January to May 2019 barely reached 4mn, encompassing all international and domestic flights with both foreign and Thai travelers.
The 2019 Annual Report by Airports of Thailand (AOT), the state-controlled operator of Phuket International Airport, indicates that there were 8.9mn foreign and Thai arrivals to Phuket throughout the entire year of 2019. This official report supports the accuracy of the 4mn estimate for the first five months of the year when considering the combined number of foreign and Thai travelers, but not foreigners alone.
Reassuring the Chinese
The data from Phuket Immigration regarding arrivals from China aligns with the concerns expressed by PTA Director Thaneth Tantipiriyakij in early May, when the exper warned of a “slowdown of the Chinese market” due to various factors.
Mr Thaneth highlighted the nightly closures of Phuket airport being extended until July, which would hinder flight expansion from China as these had been the time slots they utilised before the pandemic. He also urged relevant authorities to address the issue of “fake news concerning unsafe vacations in Thailand” that had been circulating on Chinese social media platforms.
Regardless of the authenticity of such news, both the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Tourist Police Bureau collaborated at the end of May to tackle this issue.
On May 22, the TAT announced a new campaign called ’Trusted Thailand, You Taiguo Yue Wan Yue Kaixin’ and aimed at reinforcing Chinese travelers’ confidence in safety while promoting meaningful travel experiences in Thailand.
As part of this effort, the TAT invited 60 Chinese influencers, also known as “key opinion leaders” (KOLs), to participate in the Mega Fam Trip from May 18-28. The itineraries were carefully designed to emphasize tourist safety measures and highlight community-based, gastronomy, health, and beach tourism experiences.
Although Phuket was not included in the destinations visited by the Chinese KOLs, the island was still the key scene for the part of the campaign run by the Tourist Police.
Since the last week of May, the agency has significantly increased its media activity to promote the officers’ assistance to foreign tourists in need.
Daily reports published by the Phuket Tourist Police feature stories of officers helping foreigners find their lost mobile phones and motorcycles, providing care to road accident victims, acting as mediators in conflicts between foreign clients and local businesses, and assisting in the search for tourists lost in the jungle or struggling to recall the name of their hotel.
“In cooperation with the relevant agencies, the Tourist Police Bureau is dedicated to the safety and well-being of tourists in Thailand. We are making every effort and utilizing modern technology to ensure tourists from all over the world can enjoy peace of mind throughout their travels in Thailand,” stated Lt Gen Sukhun Prommayon, Commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau, in a joint announcement with the TAT.
“The ’Trusted Thailand’ campaign aims to reassure Chinese tourists that Thailand is a safe and secure destination. The tagline ’You Taiguo Yue Wan Yue Kaixin’ in Chinese, which translates to ’the more one travels to Thailand, the more fun they enjoy,’ reinforces that Thailand remains the preferred destination for Chinese tourists, offering a wide variety of quality tourism products and services that cater to different Chinese travel preferences,” added Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing in Asia and the South Pacific Region.
