Naturist tourism down 20 percent in February

Naturist resorts in Thailand reported a combined loss of 18 percent in room nights in February 2020. While the drop is worrying, the naturist resorts in general are grateful that their niche - providing tourists with non-sexual nude recreation resorts - suffered less than the over 40 percent drop reported in the mainstream tourism sector.

The drop in February came after a record breaking January 2020 where naturist accommodation in Thailand recorded a 51 percent growth in room nights sold compared to 2019. The 18 percent drop in February in room nights sold was the first time ever, that naturist rooms sold had not exceeded the number reported the same month the year before.

Naturist Association Thailand started measuring the growth of the sector in 2016. Since then, the total number of room nights have been growing faster than any other tourism sector in Thailand. Last year, in 2019, the naturist resorts recorded a combined 43.7 percent growth to nearly 10.000 room nights compared to 2018. In 2018, the growth was 44.2 percent over 2017. In 2017, the growth was even 73.5 percent.

Recently, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) cut its estimate for international arrivals significantly in light of the Covid-19 spreading around the world. Naturist Association Thailand hopes, the naturist tourists will continue to show a greater resilience and remain loyal and supportive of their unique lifestyle accommodations in Thailand.

NATCON - the largest annual naturist event in Asia - will go ahead as planned although the number of participants is expected to drop somewhat. Last year, NATCON 8 was attended by 120 Thai naturists as well as naturist people from all over the world. This year, NATCON 9 takes place from 1 - 3 May 2020 at the same resort in Petchburi province as the event in 2019. Last year, the participating Chinese naturists were only 9 people. The rest came from 22 different countries and territories, giving the event the affectionate name "United Nations of Naturism" since only the World Naturist Congress organised by the International Naturist Federation every second year has a greater variety of nationalities.

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NATCON 2019 from 3. -5. May 2019

The 8th Annual International Naturist Conference in Thailand takes place in the 1st weekend in May 2019. This world naturist event saw last time 110 naturists from 19 different countries come together to meet other naturists, discuss the future of naturism in Asia and have fun doing sports and other activities. At NATCON 8 we expect 150 people or more to attend. Accommodation in private rooms is luxurious compared to all previous years! Pre-Natcon events will take place at all 6 naturist resorts in Thailand. As always, NATCON is strictly a members-only event.

Responses

  1. I earnestly hope and pray that this crisis gets resolved quickly and things get back to normal. I am looking forward to NATCON 20 . No change of plans from my end .

  2. I have made all the bookings and leaves approved from office. Don’t want to miss this NATCON trip but my office has put restrictions on all travel out of India. I will be at a very big loss if this problem doesn’t resolves by end of March.