According to a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department, local tourism business representatives told Vice Governor Prakob that occupancy across the island for the month of October was 71.13%, a fall of only 2.3% compared with October last year.
The news was delivered at a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall which was intended to cover the economic developments made to prepare the island to become the ‘Phuket Mice Destination’.
According to the report, hotel occupancy in Phuket beach areas during October was 78.53%.
A total of 1,047,964 tourists visited the island during the month and each tourist on average spent B7,575.68 per person per day, said the report.
Total income generated by tourists during October was given as B37.158 billion.
Chinese tourists remained the largest group of of tourists by number throughout October, despite some hotels reporting that about 5-10% of bookings by Chinese tourists for the month were cancelled.
Russian tourists were the second largest market, followed by Australians, Koreans, Malaysians and Germans, respectively, the meeting was told.
FIT tourists (Free Independent Travellers) were becoming increasingly common on the island, the report added.