By Chayut Setboonsarng and Jiraporn Kuhakan

BANGKOK, (Reuters) – Thailand was one of the first Asian countries to reopen for foreign visitors. It is now experiencing a gradual recovery with new hotels offering longer stays and more attractive rates for tourists.

In the first 10 months of 2021, Thailand saw 106,117 foreign tourists https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/thailand-has-over-20000-foreign-visitors-oct-after-gradual-reopening-2021-11-23, a drop from 6.7 million in 2020. Thailand received about 40,000,000 visitors per year prior to the pandemic.

Hospitality firms like Asset World Corporation Pcl, which opened its 19th property https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/thailands-awc-targets-luxury-long-stays-tourism-recovery-2021-11-22 this month, saw the majority of its bookings come from Western countries and the Middle East.

Wallapa Traisorat, chief executive, said that 70% of all bookings were from Europe. This included the UK, Scandinavian and German countries. The U.S., Middle East and Asia followed closely. He also added that domestic travel was a contributing factor. For November we expect to have 30% occupancy. We hope for better momentum in the fourth quarter due to the reopening.

Thailand is a popular destination in the region and heavily depends on tourism. The country saw 40 million tourists spend 1.91 trillion baht (or $57.3 billion) in 2019.

Centara Hotels and Resorts plans to build a hotel worth 1.1 billion Thai baht on Samui’s island in December.

Gun Srisompong, chief financial officer at Centara Hotels, stated that initially the property expected most of its guests to be locals for longer stays.

“Demand patterns changed. Srisompong explained that individuals who travel for longer periods or are working on their own need greater personalization.

Thailand is expecting only 200k foreign tourists in this year and five million by 2022.

Markus Klarer, a German tourist said that smaller crowds and lower prices made it a pleasant experience.

Klarer declared, “It’s an excellent time to go back to Thailand again.”

Some businesses felt that COVID rules made things more difficult despite the reopening.

Chitchai Singong (a Bangkok restaurant manager) stated that tourists aren’t confident enough and they still don’t understand government regulations. He cited a rule by the government which prohibits alcohol consumption at night after nine o clock.

($1 = 33.34 baht)