Central Group remains confident that its luxury department stores in Europe won't be affected by inflation as they targeted high-end customers, while Centara Hotels & Resorts (CHR) expects its revenue this year to exceed the level recorded in 2019.
Supatra Chirathivat, executive vice-president of Central Group, said malls in Europe have seen a gradual recovery of Chinese tourists, their leading customers prior to Covid-19.
She said inflation and the high cost of living might affect the European market, but would not directly hit the main target customers of Central Group in Europe.
Regarding Thai tourism this year, she said there has been high pent-up demand from Europe, which greatly contributed to all forms of business under Central Group, including hotels.
Central Group has 42 department stores in eight countries in Europe.
Its latest department store, Lamarr, is scheduled to open in Vienna, Austria within the next two years.
CHR chief executive Thirayuth Chirathivat said the hotel business is expected to gain 10 billion baht in revenue this year, exceeding the level recorded in 2019, largely driven by properties in Bangkok, Pattaya, the Maldives and Dubai as well as a new hotel in Osaka, Japan.
By attending ITB Berlin 2023, he said, Centara hotels would further expand the European market, which has been a significant source for its hotels in Pattaya, Phuket, Samui, Dubai and the Maldives since the fourth quarter last year.
He said travel agents mostly looked for individual packages combining hotels and flights, while most of their clients were high spending tourists who didn't feel the pinch from inflation or the recession.
Speaking at the "Discover Thailand Journey to Happiness" event hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Central Group at KaDeWe department store in Germany to promote Thai tourism, Mr Thirayuth said other segments in Europe should recover from next year when the cost of living and rate of inflation go down.
Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, deputy governor for marketing communications at the TAT, said the agency would encourage European guests to travel all year round through the "Visit Thailand Year 2023" campaign which would be packed with events and marketing promotions from all of the TAT's offices in Europe.
Mr Chattan said about 60% of European tourists were repeat visitors and the TAT aimed to receive 6 million visitors from Europe this year or 80% of the level recorded in 2019.
With high airfares at the moment, he said guests tend to stay for longer than they did pre-pandemic, resulting in a higher level of spending.
Meanwhile, the TAT's pavilion at ITB this year also received 2nd prize in the category of "best exhibitor" (Asia, Australia and Oceania).
