The month of September saw a massive drop off of tourism arrivals into Phuket, especially Chinese visitors. September, reliably the lowest month for tourism on the island, delivered a 242,780 visitors compared with 309,253 the month before.
Total Chinese visitation dropped from 64,674 to 37,343, comparing August to September. But from September 25 Thailand has introduced a visa-waiver for Chinese (and Kazakh) visitors so a quick recovery of Chinese visitors is expected.
Here is the arrival numbers for September from the Phuket Immigration Facebook page…
Here is the arrival numbers for August…
The September report also shows a massive drop off of booked rooms on the island, from 412K, 288K. The good news is that the trend is on the way up again. (The glitch in the middle of the month, indicating the rooms booked, is because of a change to a new method of reporting booked rooms).
For nationalities visiting Phuket, Russian arrivals led the way again after falling to the #2 position behind Chinese arrivals in August. Australian arrivals remain consistent, almost over 2 decades! As August, Indian and Malaysian arrivals make up the remainder of top 5 arrivals in September.
Locals are commenting on the high traffic volumes on some of the main roads linking the island’s communities, wondering where all the traffic is coming from, given the low number of arrivals to Phuket during September. Any thoughts? Tell us on our Facebook page for Phuket-GO.
