Hua Hin hotels and resorts rising to fame in Thailand

Hua Hin, Thailand - In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, the travel industry in Thailand was left to salvage the thousands of Phuket hotel bookings that were suddenly cancelled, with many travelers opting to reroute to the seaside hotels and resorts of Hua Hin and Cha Am in Thailand, which in the last years have highly increased their popularity as a tourist destination among international travelers.

Hua Hin and neighboring Cha Am are located on the Gulf of Thailand, some 230 kilometers south of Bangkok and are Thailand's oldest beach resorts, yet they have kept a relatively low profile on the world travel stage, slowly creating a niche as the preferred holiday destination for more laid-back holidaymakers. It is this niche that the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) is trying to build on, said the TAT director for the Hua Hin and Cha Am region.

With its ideal climate and wide beaches, the luxury hotels in Hua Hin was an obvious escape alternative for the Andaman sea resort beaches that were hit by the tsunami. As the tsunami indeed did trigger an influx of tourists to Cha Am and Hua Hin, the increase in tourist arrivals to the region must also be attributed to the marketing strategy of the TAT, with hotel occupancy levels for the December/February period of 2005 up more than 30% from last year.

Notwithstanding the fact that Phuket is welcoming tourists back tourists, the streets and beaches in Hua Hin remain packed with scantily dressed foreign holidaymakers with foreigners, with the staff of the recently opened Starbucks coffee, very busy, serving foreigners from early morning to late evening.

For many years, the sleepy town of Hua Hin, has enjoyed great prestige among the Thai population. In the past, Hua Hin was the beach and holiday destination for the Thai Royal Family and Thailand's jet-setters, to escape Bangkok's unbearable heat every summer, with the arrival of the railway in the early 1920s and the opening of the first hotel in Hua Hin, the historic Railway Hotel, nowadays managed by the Sofitel hotel group. Thailand's oldest golf course, the Royal Hua Hin Golf Course, was build in the year 1926.

Today, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) puts a lot of effort into marketing Hua Hin and Cha Am as the major golf destination in Thailand, with the beach resort featuring many international 18-hole courses, including the famous Jack Nicklaus designed Springfield Village golf course.

In recent years, the International deluxe hotels chains have been building new resorts like clockwork, and today, Hua Hin features hotels from the heavyweight chains such as Hyatt, Hilton, Mariott, as well as major Thai hotel chains such as Anantara and Dusit resorts, not to forget the exclusive Chiva-Som Spa and Health Resort, recognized as the best worldwide overseas spa destination.

In harmony with the arrival of those luxury hotels in Hua Hin and Cha Am, the Hua Hin Hotelier Club was founded 4 years ago and added instandly Hua Hin on the international travel map. Working in close conjunction with the TAT, the Hua Hin Hotelier Club is an unofficial assembly with as members Hua Hin's five-star resorts and hotels supporting various high-profile events and festivals such as the King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament, the Hua Hin Jazz Festival, the Hua Hin Vintage Car Show, and the Hua Hin charity run, all attracting huge crowds to the region.

And more luxury hotels are arriving in the years to come, as Starwood hotels is building its Sheraton Hua Hin Resort that will be opening its doors in the first quarter of 2006 with 250 rooms. The new five-star Dusit Resort Hua Hin hotel is scheduled to open in mid-2005 including the biggest convention hall for the whole region of Hua Hin/Cha-am, named the Praram 6 Convention Hall with 3000 square meters surface in a total area of 11.86 acres of tropical gardens.

Hua Hin is positioning itself as the family beach destination in Thailand and steps are being taken to prevent the seaside town of Hua Hin from going the way of Pattaya and Phuket, overtaken by beer bars and high rises buildings.

Hua Hin just might just have found a niche in the travel industry and investors are aware of this. A drive through town is greeted with endless construction sites and signs of development, from deluxe hotels and resorts, pricey condos to restaurants, bars, a bowling alley, movie theatre and supermarkets. Provided there are no major upsets, Hua Hin and Cha Am are likely to keep moving up as an International travel destination.