Chiang Mai spending falls short

TOURISM / ADDING VALUE

Chiang Mai spending falls short

CHATRUDEE THEPARAT

The Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association has encouraged entrepreneurs in the city to improve tourism products to earn more income as expenditures by foreign travellers remain low.

Statistics from the association show that each visitor spent a relatively small amount in the province, one of the key destinations in the north of Thailand.

On average, each foreign visitor to Chiang Mai spent 2,790 baht per day, up from 2,700 baht last year. The amount is quite low when compared with the nationwide average of 3,700 baht per foreign visitor.

Last year's figures broke down to 676 baht per day per head for accommodation; 461 baht for food and beverages; 672 baht for souvenirs; 500 baht for transport; 338 baht for entertainment; and 79 baht for other services.

According to Songvit Itthipattanakul, the association's president, five million travellers, two million of them foreign, visited Chiang Mai last year. Together they generated about 46 billion baht in tourism revenue to the province.

For this year, he forecast that the number of visitors would rise between 5% to 10%, and revenue would increase to about 49 billion baht. Since major tourism products in the city were locally made from communities, sale prices were normally low.

''Entrepreneurs, including hoteliers and service providers, should offer different products with higher quality to tap into a niche market and earn more income,'' Mr Songvit suggested.

Boutique hotels represent a good trend, he said. The latest is the 300- million-baht RarinJinda Wellness Spa Resort on the Ping River.

Wiboon Utsahajit, the president of RarinJinda, said the company transformed a 140-year old Thai-style teak house into a luxurious spa. It then built 35 rooms that opened early this year.

The big investment enabled his spa treatment service to be on par with those offered in five-star hotels in Chiang Mai, including Daradhevi and Four Seasons.

Since opening earlier this year, the hotel has been well received with an occupancy rate in the peak season at 80%, pushing up the annual average rate to 50%.