PHUKET, 16 December 2021: The Phuket Hotels Association, a non-profit organisation with 72 member properties, has appointed a new senior leadership team.
Bjorn Courage, general manager of the InterContinental Phuket Resort, who has more than 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, has been named as the association’s new president of the Phuket Hotels Association, succeeding founding president Anthony Lark, ex-general manager of the Amanpuri, Trisara, and now executive director at HMD, Shinta Mani and Bensley Collection hotels.
Bjorn Courage. 
Sumi Soorian, who has been with the Phuket Hotels Association since its foundation in 2016 and most recently served as development director, has also been promoted to executive director. A marketing and communications professional who specialises in project management and business development, Sumi graduated in the USA and has worked in multiple countries, including Australia, China and Thailand.
Courage moves into the role of president at a time of optimism for Phuket’s tourism and hospitality industry. The island was one of the first Southeast Asian destinations to safely reopen to international visitors when it launched the innovative “Phuket Sandbox” programme in July 2021, and its hotels and resorts are now gearing up for a strong recovery in the winter high season and beyond.
Since it was founded in January 2016, the Phuket Hotels Association has grown to represent 72 of the island’s top internationally-branded and independent luxury and midscale hotels and resorts, comprising just over 12,000 rooms. Each of these members has made a commitment to the destination and, through the Phuket Hotels Association, are actively investing in a sustainable future through long-term environmental and educational initiatives.
Anthony Lark will continue to serve as a senior advisor to the association, alongside Bill Barnett, a founder of the Phuket Hotels Association and managing director of C9 Hotelworks, David Keen, CEO of QUO, David Johnson, CEO of Delivering Asia Communications, Boon Yongsakul, chairman of Boat Pattana, and Saharat Jivavisitnont, executive director at Jee Teng Hospitality Group.
