Coronavirus is worse than the tsunami - and the state is downplaying the impact, claim tourism operators

[webfact]

Coronavirus is worse than the tsunami - and the state is downplaying the impact, claim tourism operators

 

Thai caption: Lament from Lanta

Picture: Sanook

 

A Covid-19 crisis meeting held in the south was told that the Thai government have been downplaying the effect of the virus on tourism businesses.

 

Local tourism operators from three of the main Andaman provinces slammed the government and demanded more help from the authorities.

 

Even the Europeans were following the Chinese lead and shunning Thailand.

 

In fact it is a worse situation than after the Asian tsunami of Boxing Day 2004.

 

Sanook carried a picture of top tourist destination Koh Lanta describing the cries from the south as "Lanta's Lament".

 

Their report of the meeting between tourism chiefs, MPs and operators from Phuket, Krabi and Phangnga contained all the dire reports and equally bad predictions that have become familiar in stories about Covid-19 in the last few weeks.

 

One difference to many of the reports is how the operators have slammed the government and the TAT for reporting things as not being as bad as they really are.

 

The operators said they themselves expected a 30% downturn.

 

The state said no, don't worry so much. It would only be 10-20%.

 

The reality is that income from tourism is down 70% at least, said the operators.

 

Claims that things would get back to normal in the second quarter are also being treated with skepticism.

 

The meeting heard that some operators who rely solely on the Chinese have just shut down completely.

 

Others who have European clientele have noticed that they too are following the Chinese lead and giving Thailand a wide berth.

 

All in all this was making the current crisis even worse than the devastating tsunami that killed thousands in Thailand and around a quarter of a million people across Asia.

 

Those at the meeting called for more government help especially in the form of short term loans to help businesses.

 

Source: Sanook

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-02-20

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[madmitch]

Some people have short memories.

 

I can only refer to Phuket and the south but tourism was decimated after the tsunami and the beaches were empty.

 

In 2020, despite coronavirus, Phuket's beaches are still packed.

 

A minor blip in comparison!

[smutcakes]

I feel sorry for the people who lose their jobs when their are situations like this, but i struggle to have much sympathy for the big businesses involved in tourism. In every sector there are good or bad events which affect business, but none of those get support from the Government when times are bad. Its not as if when the tourism operators are raking it in with the ever increasing records of tourist arrivals are paying extra to the Government as a thank you. Why when its a bad turn do the public have to lend their support to them? Do private businesses in other sectors get help when their business is struggling? The tour operators have had years of growth, surely many of them have made enough money to absorb shutting up shop for a few months...

[thaibeachlovers]

14 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

I feel sorry for the people who lose their jobs when their are situations like this, but i struggle to have much sympathy for the big businesses involved in tourism. In every sector there are good or bad events which affect business, but none of those get support from the Government when times are bad. Its not as if when the tourism operators are raking it in with the ever increasing records of tourist arrivals are paying extra to the Government as a thank you. Why when its a bad turn do the public have to lend their support to them? Do private businesses in other sectors get help when their business is struggling? The tour operators have had years of growth, surely many of them have made enough money to absorb shutting up shop for a few months...

It's typical, rip off the tourists in times of plenty, do nothing to improve the awful tourist experience and when things go bad blame everyone but themselves.

I hope the government do nothing to assist them, other than sorting out the immigration hate on farangs, and stop bringing in stupid regulations that penalise guesthouses that cater to farangs.

[Thian]

Perfect moment to improve safety and quality.....get them captains trained abroad to be professional, install meters in all taxi's and tuktuk's...teach hotelstaff proper english, clean the pools and beaches....repair all roads and sidewalks....and so on.

[RotBenz8888]

The slowdown began well before the Corona. Thailand is simply not that interesting anymore, with the high Bath and increasingly hostile immigration, the spiral will continue down even after the Corona issue is gone.

[CLW]

I really feel sorry for the small businesses who are suffering now immediately from the impact of decreasing tourist numbers.

 

They should thank their government for continuously ignoring issue that would tourists feel welcome and safe here such as:

- metered taxis in tourist areas

- lifeguards on the beaches

- abandon dual pricing

- improve marine and road safety

- reduce air and marine pollution

- efficiency of immigration at the airports 

 

I'm sure there would be more topics to add.

 

[patongphil]

10 minutes ago, CLW said:

I really feel sorry for the small businesses who are suffering now immediately from the impact of decreasing tourist numbers.

 

They should thank their government for continuously ignoring issue that would tourists feel welcome and safe here such as:

- metered taxis in tourist areas

- lifeguards on the beaches

- abandon dual pricing

- improve marine and road safety

- reduce air and marine pollution

- efficiency of immigration at the airports 

 

I'm sure there would be more topics to add.

 

Ablutions on the beaches!!!

[AndrewMciver]

There are still crazy loads of tourists around. Although most of these bookings would have been made before the latest horse manure hit the fan.

 

Ironically i am still seeing nutty loads of chinese tourists around. 

 

Nothing like Tsunami period. 

[ParkerN]

6 hours ago, Thian said:

Perfect moment to improve safety and quality.....get them captains trained abroad to be professional, install meters in all taxi's and tuktuk's...teach hotelstaff proper english, clean the pools and beaches....repair all roads and sidewalks....and so on.

Don't tell me... and then you woke up - right?

[Artisi]

6 hours ago, Thian said:

Perfect moment to improve safety and quality.....get them captains trained abroad to be professional, install meters in all taxi's and tuktuk's...teach hotelstaff proper english, clean the pools and beaches....repair all roads and sidewalks....and so on.

Nice dream, bet you were disappointed when you woke up????

[RichardColeman]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Even the Europeans were following the Chinese lead and shunning Thailand.

Think you might find that the Europeans have finally caught on to a seriously daft high baht that has reduced their spending power by 25-30% 

[James26]

There is no going back to normal. A new normal is on the way and IMO, it entails much lower tourism revenues for years to come. Thailand must diversify and it starts with EDUCATION and discarding old traditions that are counterproductive to growth. It's possible to preserve culture without holding on to things that don't work.

[Assurancetourix]

16 hours ago, Thian said:

Perfect moment to improve safety and quality.....get them captains trained abroad to be professional, install meters in all taxi's and tuktuk's...teach hotelstaff proper english, clean the pools and beaches....repair all roads and sidewalks....and so on.

 

Ola! You ask them to do the twelve labors of Hercules ..
and without brown envelopes I bet!
You will push them to collective suicide .. 

[prism]

Up here in Chiang Mai, the amount of western tourists seem about normal with the venues that cater to them being quite busy. What is noticeable is the missing tour buses and the throngs of Chinese tourists at the main tourist attractions and Nimmanhaemin. It's actually more pleasant around here but I do feel for the people who became so reliant on just the Chinese group tour segment.   

[Rabbi]

I hope the government do nothing to assist them, other than sorting out the immigration hate on farangs, and stop bringing in stupid regulations that penalise guesthouses that cater to farangs.

 

Agree - Leave them to their own devices, as they did when they were making a killing!!

[Deli]

17 hours ago, Thian said:

Perfect moment to improve safety and quality.....get them captains trained abroad to be professional, install meters in all taxi's and tuktuk's...teach hotelstaff proper english, clean the pools and beaches....repair all roads and sidewalks....and so on.

 

Yes. Could have done also after the Tsunami but did not happen. It became worse than before.

[4MyEgo]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

The reality is that income from tourism is down 70% at least, said the operators.

Yet hotel and airline prices remain the same, guess they will either have to drop their pants in the short term or go bust, what's that saying here, face, or something or rather ????

 

[rtco]

16 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

high Bath

I thought there was a water shortage in Thailand ????

[Tayaout]

20 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Yet hotel and airline prices remain the same, guess they will either have to drop their pants in the short term or go bust, what's that saying here, face, or something or rather ????

 

I could be wrong but I think airline price went down because of higher demand. It's easier to pay for a route when the plane is full so it's possible the price will go up but at the same time fuel price is down so I'm not sure. 

[ParkerN]

1 hour ago, James26 said:

There is no going back to normal. A new normal is on the way and IMO, it entails much lower tourism revenues for years to come. Thailand must diversify and it starts with EDUCATION and discarding old traditions that are counterproductive to growth. It's possible to preserve culture without holding on to things that don't work.

If it involves educating the masses better, then it won't happen. There's a link between educational standards and the wages a phrae can get from the amart. Thailand exploits the living bejasus out of the population and they're not about to take a drop in their billions if it's only to benefit the unwashed hordes.

 

Ask who it is that benefits most from keeping the masses poor, stupid and uneducated. The answer may surprise.

 

 

[IamNoone88]

"and demanded more help from the authorities". Since when has that ever happened? You have to adapt and fix your own problems. Government isn't going to help anyone, anywhere.

[peter14]

It's only karma for all the hardship Thailand gave to people during visa runs and visa application  hell and reporting...for those that try to remain and participate in the economy....

You wanted Chinese .. you stop smiling .. you become xenophobic....   pay the price   

[newnative]

56 minutes ago, prism said:

Up here in Chiang Mai, the amount of western tourists seem about normal with the venues that cater to them being quite busy. What is noticeable is the missing tour buses and the throngs of Chinese tourists at the main tourist attractions and Nimmanhaemin. It's actually more pleasant around here but I do feel for the people who became so reliant on just the Chinese group tour segment.   

Ditto for Pattaya.

[klauskunkel]

 

Instead of crying like a baby to get free money from the government so you can continue to do nothing, you should clean up your region and make it fit for tourism later. Now is the time

[Assurancetourix]

44 minutes ago, rtco said:

I thought there was a water shortage in Thailand ????

But if you read Thai, you will find that Baht is misspelled in Western script; in Thai, the last letter is a "th" not a "ht"

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

what can the government do? this is an unflding situation.

it is a higher power, higher than any government.

all those resort owners should sit and pray that the virus will not

spread in thailand.

this is more important than lost revenues.

you don't want to see what will happan when thousands of infected

people will be found in thailand...ohhh no, so help us GOD !

[polopeterpan]

No Chinese bus in Pattaya.

Quality of air very high 

[Guderian]

...and if the Thai government admitted the true extent of the virus outbreak in Thailand things would be even worse.

[AhFarangJa]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

The meeting heard that some operators who rely solely on the Chinese have just shut down completely.

Therein lay's a lot of your problems. The tourist sector embraced the cheap spending Chinese to rake in a fast dollar, while at the same time ignoring the other tourists, especially Europeans, and yes, expats living here who contribute a lot to local economies. Add on the draconian xenophobic attitude to Expats in general, with spy cars, and turning local villagers into snitches, blatant racist dual pricing, pollution, etc. they end up in the situation they are in now. 

The cashcow has dried up, and as other posters have mentioned, there has been no re-investment in infrastructure, or amenities.

You reap what you sow Somchai.