The shifting demographics on the Phuket tourism scene over the past few years have evolved and changed right before our eyes, with newer and interesting markets springing up all the time. Only a couple of years ago the island really depended on holidaymakers from Northern Europe, America and Australia, but as the economic misfortunes of those areas of the world have become apparent, tourists from those countries began to decline, leaving a massive void in the market.
Fortunately, other parts of the word have begun to flourish, especially from Eastern Europe. The local consultancy firm, C9 Hotelworks, have conducted research that shows Eastern European holidaymakers have injected 36 billion THB into Phuket’s economy during 2012.
The research shows that 1.6 million people from Eastern Europe visited Thailand last year.
It just goes to show that when one door closes, another one opens. Over the past couple of years, the island has already seen other changes in the demographics, with visitors from other Asian countries such as Malaysia, India, Korea, Singapore and China holidaying in Phuket more and more.
A diverse market is what we need on Phuket, and that is exactly what is happening, and it’s very positive.
