InterContinental Bangkok braces for high growth amid changing tourism trends
After a year-long renovation, InterContinental Bangkok is seeing a steady growth momentum, riding Thai tourism’s strong recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has affected every industry, especially the hospitality and tourism business, slowing down the economy. However, Thailand has the resilience to make a comeback in the hospitality and tourism industry,” said Stephen Gould, the general manager of InterContinental Bangkok.
With Thailand receiving more and more tourists from every corner of the world, Bangkok was recently ranked as among the most visited cities in the world in 2023, according to a survey by Travelness.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand had forecast visitor arrivals at the start of the year at roughly 25 million, and revised it 30 million by the year-end.
The hotel’s general manager said: “Our hotel relaunched on June 1st after a multi-million dollar refurbishment. So we've come back into the market with a big bang and the trajectory for the hotel has been very strong. In fact, we are going to be sold out soon, which is very pleasant for us.”
Previous visitor trends were either for business purposes or relaxing, but those trends have changed after the pandemic, he said.
Gould said that recent trends in the hospitality and tourism business in Thailand focused on wellness and mixed-use stays.
“People are using their travel destinations for business to explore and find some downtime and enjoy some leisure moments, not just pre- and post- but during the actual core stay as well,” he said.
“So that may be a trip to the spa and a little bit of indulgence, some wellness piece coming in there as well as cultural exploration and getting out and enjoying the vibrancy of the restaurants and bars.
“We're seeing travellers looking for authentic experiences they want to look like whilst they're in their localities. So we're really fortunate for us being in the epicentre of Bangkok,” Gould explained.
Gould also revealed InterContinental Bangkok’s strategy and expectations for 2024 and the near future as well.
“Our strategy is to continue positioning the hotel as an icon in the downtown Bangkok Ratchaprasong area. We have repositioned the hotel with a more contemporary residential feel, which connects with the modern traveller. So we expect our current trajectory, which is very positive, to continue and the wonderful reputation, with this fresh new look,” Gould said.
