The Bank of Thailand (BOT) conducted a survey of hotels and announced that it expects the country’s third coronavirus wave to reduce the occupancy rate at the country’s hotels to only 9 percent this month
- The survey showed occupancy hotel rates were at around 18 percent last month and just half that this month.
- Eighty percent of hotel operators are saying this third COVID-19 wave is even worse than the second.
- Right now around 39 percent of hotels are still open but with less than 10 percent of their normal income.
The BOT said that the survey revealed occupancy rates of 18 percent in April and only 9 percent in May. At that rate, 47 percent of Thailand hotels would go out of business within 3 months. Eighty percent of operators consider the current third wave more damaging than the second, which ran from Christmas until the end of January.
Because more than 51 percent of reservations were canceled in April, the usually-popular Thailand event of Songkran proved much less successful than anticipated, the joint BOT-Thai Hotels Association survey concluded. Only 46 percent of the country’s hotels currently are open normally, with 13 percent shut temporarily and the others with curtailed hours or capacity.
The joint BOT-Thai Hotels Association survey concluded 51 percent of reservations were canceled in April, making Songkran much less successful than anticipated. Meanwhile, about 39 percent of hotels still open reported less than 10 percent of normal income and more than 25 percent half normal income.
The THA repeatedly has called for government assistance, including employee wage subsidies, debt moratoriums and tourism stimulus plans to fight the effects of COVID-19.
