Bangkok: Thai hoteliers are smiling as foreigners stay at hotels nationwide increase by 60.8 percent. The Real Estate Information Center (REIC) of the Government Housing Bank (GHB) conducted an analysis titled “Hotel Business Situation in the First Half of 2025.” It found that the hotel business slowed down year-on-year (YoY) due to a 4.7% year-on-year decrease in foreign tourist arrivals. However, the average hotel occupancy rate nationwide increased by 60.8%, up from 59.1% in the same period last year, reflecting continued growth in demand for accommodation.

According to Thai News Agency, on the supply side, there was a year-on-year (YoY) slowdown, with the number of new hotel applications and the number of new rooms falling by -34.6% and -32.2%, respectively. This resulted in a decrease in the cumulative number of registered hotels nationwide by -3.7% and the cumulative number of rooms by -1.8%. However, future supply trends show signs of expansion, with permitted hotel construction areas increasing by 29.6%, particularly in the Bangkok metropolitan area, where construction permit applications increased by as much as 230.7% year-on-year. This is due to Bangkok’s position as a business and tourism hub, consistently attracting tourists and investors.

Considering the cumulative number of hotel rooms available by province, the top 10 provinces with the most rooms as of the first half of 2025 accounted for 60.5 percent of the total. These provinces were Bangkok, Chonburi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Surat Thani, Krabi, Songkhla, Nakhon Ratchasima, Rayong, and Chiang Rai. Of these 10 provinces, Rayong saw the largest increase in rooms, at 5.9 percent, while Krabi saw the largest decrease in rooms, down 9.9 percent. Other provinces saw a year-on-year decrease of -2.6 percent.