Bangkok Hotel Market Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis

• As a popular travel destination in Asia, Thailand’s
tourism growth over the last few years have been driven
by Chinese visitors and the broader Asian market,
including Vietnam, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia.
• Aside from being a key leisure destination in Asia,
Thailand is also one of the leading destinations for
medical tourism in Asia. According to Thailand Medical
News (12 November 2019), there were 302,270
people travelling to Thailand for medical treatment
in 2018. Among factors that have attracted medical
tourists from Asia as well as the Middle East are the
lower medical expenses and cost of living in Thailand
compared to other countries in this region.
• Songkran Festival has attracted a high number of
international tourist arrivals to Bangkok since they
enjoy celebrating Songkran and splashing water with
the locals. In 2018, the festival attracted 3.09 million
tourists to Thailand, originating mainly from China,
Malaysia, Laos, Russia, India, Japan, South Korea,
Vietnam, the US and the UK. Nevertheless, in April
2019, the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA)
reported that the number of international tourist
arrivals at Suvarnabhumi International Airport and
Don Muang Airport in April 2019 was 455,289, 11 per
cent lower than 2018 (511,556). The global economic
recession, the decrease in the number of Chinese
visitors, and the currency appreciation of the baht had
resulted in a lower number of international visitors
in Bangkok during Songkran compared to the same
period of 2018.

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