What coronavirus? Bangkok luxury hotels push new openings despite lack of foreign tourists | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3116143/what-coronavirus-bangkok-luxury-hotels-push-new-openings
The Capella Bangkok opened in October and has the highest rack rates in the capital, starting at 17,500 baht (US$579) before tax. Photo: Capella Bangkok The Capella Bangkok opened in October and has the highest rack rates in the capital, starting at 17,500 baht (US$579) before tax.
Pandemic-related travel restrictions have plunged Thailand’s tourism
industry into crisis – but the doom and gloom has not stopped new hotel openings in Bangkok, particularly at the high end of the market. There were at least a dozen high-profile hotel openings in 2020, with one recently rebranded property offering club rooms for as little as 1,222 baht (US$40) the week before Christmas. Others like Capella Bangkok – which opened in October and has the highest rack rates in the capital, starting at 17,500 baht (US$579) before tax – are bullish about their appeal. At least one hotel slated for launch last year, the business-oriented Solaria Nishitetsu, decided to postpone its public opening and is instead offering packages for alternative state quarantine (ASQ) travellers undergoing their 14-day isolation periods.Paying for ASQ is a requirement for all foreigners coming into Thailand. Some travellers enter on the government’s Special Tourist Visa, but take-up of the programme has not been strong: Thailand counted just 3,065 tourist arrivals in November versus the 3.5 million that arrived in the same month in 2019, before the coronavirus swept across the world.
In a report, the Kasikorn Bank Research Centre projects an annual total of 4.5 million to 7 million arrivals for this year, depending on factors including a successful Covid-19 vaccination programme and continued political and social stability in Thailand – a sharp fall from the 39.8 million arrivals in 2019, and down from 6.9 million last year.
#Covid-19#migration#migrant#thailande#tourisme#luxe#elite#sante#visa#economie