Archive for December 22nd, 2009
Unexpected tourist increase
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has raised its year-end forecast for foreign arrivals to 14.1 million due to an unexpected surge in tourists last month.
Foreign visitors to Thailand rose by 24.91% year-on-year to 1.34 million in November, according to TAT figures. The percentage rise, however, is from a period last year when arrivals were affected by the blockading of Bangkok’s airports by yellow-shirted protesters.
This month’s arrivals should hit 1.4 to 1.5 million, said the agency, which has raised its forecast for the year to 14.1 million from a previous projection of less than 14 million, down from 14.6 million arrivals last year.
More than 1 million foreigners visited Thailand each month for nine of the past 11 months, said TAT chairman Wichai Srikwan. Only May and June arrivals failed to hit seven figures after political unrest in April cut arrivals to 923,918 and 954,772, respectively.
Buoyed by last month’s results, Mr Wichai said foreign visitors could reach 1.5 million in December, up on an average of 1.2-1.3 million in recent years. Promotions for charter flights to hotspots such as Pattaya, Koh Samui, Krabi and Phuket this month would support the rise.
The wave of new arrivals was in part down to the TAT’s promotional campaign to restore the country’s tourism industry, battered by political turmoil, he said.
Immigration Bureau statistics showed visitors from East Asia rose by 29.78% year-on-year to 660,688 in November. Chinese visitors also surged by 110.38% to 92,541, while Japanese arrivals rose by 14.23% to 87,267. Asean visitors rose by 29.78% to 364,268. European arrivals also boomed, increasing by 16.66% to 418,927, while those from the Middle East rose by 58.46% to 44,987.
Despite the positive statistics, November registered a year-to-date contraction of 7.3% in foreign arrivals to 12.44 million, down from 13.43 million in 2008, according to the TAT.
The TAT board yesterday approved the nomination of Surapol Svetasreni as its new governor. Mr Surapol is scheduled to sign a contract with the agency on Dec 22 and to start work from Jan 1.
Bangkok Post
15 December 2009
High speed rail link from Bangkok through Pattaya FIRST
Thailand’s business ministers meeting approved an investment plan to build a high-speed railway with a Bt100 billion budget for four main routes linking the Thai capital to the country’s four regions.
According to Deputy Prime Minister, Korbsak Sabhavasu, four routes will depart from Bangkok to the northern province of Chiang Mai (745km), to Nong Khai on the Mekong River in the northeast (615km), to the eastern province of Chanthaburi (330km), and to Padang Besar on the Thai-Malaysian border in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla (985km).
Mr Korbsak said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insisted to first build the short eastern route, for it would take less time to execute the work than constructing a long route to begin with.
Developing property markets in Asia favoured by real estate investors, survey shows
Property investors are likely to be more interested in developing Asian real estate markets next year than traditional countries like the UK and the US, according to a new survey.
Some 85% of the 150 strong audience at the annual Thomson Reuters Global Property Outlook said they expected developing Asian markets to deliver total returns in excess of 10% in 2010 as economic growth feeds demand for homes, shops and offices.
In contrast, just 13% of those delegates surveyed said that property returns in the UK or the US would match those seen in developing Asia, even though both markets looked to be nearing the twilight of their real estate corrections.
Some 61% said they expected UK total returns between zero and 10% next year, broadly in line with Eurozone total property returns for the same period.
While around half of respondents expected to see the same zero to 10% total returns range in developed Asian markets like Korea and Tokyo as government measures to thwart real estate bubbles bear fruit.
The survey also found that 42% estimated US total property returns between minus 10% and zero, while 39% expected returns between zero and 10%.
Congested credit markets and a reluctance among some banks to lend to real estate have encouraged bargain hunters to delay investment sprees and 61% said they expected a flat property market next year.
They are not particularly keen on investing in Dubai with a general fear that the worst global real estate slump for generations was not over yet.
Around 50% said they believed Dubai’s debt crisis was a sign of further troubles to come for highly leveraged property markets, while 37% said the problems were too small to spark a calamity outside the Gulf region.
Until valuations stabilise further and banks resolve massive exposures to distressed property loans, real estate will have to compete strongly to maintain its weighting in a diversified portfolio, the survey results indicated.
Stocks are the preferred asset class with 33% expecting shares to perform best in 2010, with 28% picking property and 26% selecting commodities.