Tourism Council chief says he can't predict tourism numbers - days after deputy did just that

[webfact]

Picture: INN

 

The chairman of the Tourism Council of Thailand said that the dire situation of the pandemic makes it impossible to predict what foreign tourism numbers would be this year.

 

This came just days after his deputy presented four scenarios including a best case 3 million, as reported by ASEAN Now at the weekend. 

 

Even the worst case scenario with Bangkok unable to open and Chinese tourists forbidden from leaving their country was widely ridiculed by netizens after Wichit Prakopkosol made his comments ahead of the Phuket Sandbox reopening. 

 

Now his chief Chamnan Srisawat appeared to distance himself from making predictions in comments made to INN yesterday.

 

He said that the third wave of the pandemic was severe for the tourism industry with 36% of businesses temporarily shut and many having gone under permanently.

 

He reckoned that only 50% of the industry was open at this point though he expressed optimism that this would be enough to sustain the industry going forward as Thailand began the process of opening up. 

 

But in further gloomy assessments he said that tourism businesses had only 10% of (former) revenues as there were simply no tourists to speak of. 

 

He called on the government to up its vaccine rollout in tourism provinces to increase the confidence of foreign tourists to visit Thailand. 

 

-- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-07-05

 

[Bluespunk]

4 minutes ago, webfact said:

The chairman of the Tourism Council of Thailand said that the dire situation of the pandemic makes it impossible to predict what foreign tourism numbers would be this year.

Hmm, an honest statement. 
 

Leading a tourism body may not be this man’s ideal employment environment. 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Bluespunk

[RotBenz8888]

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

impossible to predict what foreign tourism numbers would be this year.

Put it at 0, everyting above that is a bonus. 

[khunPer]

Seems like he realized that predicting is difficult, especially about the future...????

[Excel]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

Hmm, an honest statement. 
 

Leading a tourism body may not be this man’s ideal employment environment. 

Just hope he is able to lead a long life due to telling the truth !!

[chalawaan]

He's got the haircut that matters, and that's all that matters!

 

He'll do very well. 

 

Even if they have to pay tourists to come on his watch, and quite frankly, since everyone else gets fistfuls of money for anything ever to happen in LoS -perhaps they should.

[chalawaan]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

But in further gloomy assessments he said that tourism businesses had only 10% of (former) revenues as there were simply no tourists to speak of. 

How do he get 10% out of 'no tourists to speak of" a.k.a zero? No wonder they're all unexplained Billionaires!

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He reckoned that only 50% of the industry was open at this point though he expressed optimism that this would be enough to sustain the industry going forward as Thailand began the process of opening up. 

Vaccine chaos, and Delta variant infections climbing into the double digit thousnds by the end of july, with guaranteed new and interesting variants to come in the northern winter.

How can they even begin thinking about "opening up"? The the trench war mentality of the sluggish military mind only "works" on beachheads, not beaches.

[kotsak]

Odd, I thought predicting numbers is what they used to do all the time.. ????

[Artisi]

2 minutes ago, chalawaan said:

How do he get 10% out of 'no tourists to speak of" a.k.a zero? No wonder they're all unexplained Billionaires!

 

Vaccine chaos, and Delta variant infections climbing into the double digit thousnds by the end of july, with guaranteed new and interesting variants to come in the northern winter.

How can they even begin thinking about "opening up"? The the trench war mentality of the sluggish military mind only "works" on beachheads, not beaches.

And very unlikely there would be the slighted of anything working in a Thai military mind - beachhead or anywhere else - although they might think it means oral sex on the beach. 

[kynikoi]

The numbers indicate failure. Barely a few hundred day. He can't put two zeros on the end of it so wisely has decided to let some other bureaucratic pull a fiction from thin air.

[Surelynot]

As I said on another thread.......I wake up every morning looking forward to TAT's latest announcement.......it sets me up for the day.

[RichardColeman]

51 minutes ago, Excel said:

Just hope he is able to lead a long life due to telling the truth !!

I'm sure he will, just not an well employed one

[Neilly]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that the third wave of the pandemic was severe for the tourism industry with 36% of businesses temporarily shut and many having gone under permanently.

 

In Samui that would be at least 50% temporarily shut, with probably 40% gone under completely, leaving about 10% running...just

[spidermike007]

Tourism here is basically finished. For good. It will never recover to even close to it's former levels. Maybe 5 million tourists per year, five or eight years from now. Maybe. Way too much sabotage and ignorance.

 

Thailand continues to be tone deaf, on the wrong side of history, and feeble, in its minor attempts to progress into this century. Anything this administration does is typically dumb, and unplanned. And the effects, ramifications and future are never considered. To call this approach towards a re-opening heavy handed would be a gross understatement.

 

The numbers keep rising here. Nearly 2,000 cases in Bangkok yesterday? Why would tourists take that risk? And one of dozens of things this dumb group are not considering, is that foreigners are at far, far greater risk than Thais, by coming here. Thais are at no risk. These people have been vaccinated with the top vaccines, and been tested. And the Thais? There should be no restrictions whatsoever, on incoming tourists. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

Seems like he realized that predicting is difficult, especially about the future...????

Somchai Nostradamus lives!

[Parsve]

A sensible statement. What I do not understand, however, is that those in charge in Thailand have not understood what marketers in other countries have known for decades, namely that the best sales channel is not advertising, it is satisfied customers. In the case of Thailand, this would mean that they provide relief for foreigners who already live / are in Thailand instead of treating us as criminals, unwelcome or sixth class citizens.

that will make a change from us. Instead of writing to our friends in other countries, that Thailand is a <deleted>ty country, we would write that Thailand is nice and it treat foreigners well. That will get tourists here as soon as possible without paying millions of Baht on advertising that does not work. "Make Thailand to the LOS again".

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, Parsve said:

it is satisfied customers.

Spot on...........if I could speak German I would make a fortune retraining the whole country........they do not have a clue about customer care........customers are generally viewed as a nuisance !

[ukrules]

Has the penny dropped?

[Road Warrior]

nice for him to be honest and not from cuckoo land like others 

[mrfill]

13 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Spot on...........if I could speak German I would make a fortune retraining the whole country........they do not have a clue about customer care........customers are generally viewed as a nuisance !

 

Would have thought that speaking Thai would be more helpful when teaching Thai people.

[248900_1469958220]

3 hours ago, khunPer said:

Seems like he realized that predicting is difficult, especially about the future...????

I got real good at predicting the past. When I was a kid I did real good at history cause of it. The present I am unaware of. The future is something I am looking into while building my flux capacitor. 

[spidermike007]

45 minutes ago, Parsve said:

A sensible statement. What I do not understand, however, is that those in charge in Thailand have not understood what marketers in other countries have known for decades, namely that the best sales channel is not advertising, it is satisfied customers. In the case of Thailand, this would mean that they provide relief for foreigners who already live / are in Thailand instead of treating us as criminals, unwelcome or sixth class citizens.

that will make a change from us. Instead of writing to our friends in other countries, that Thailand is a <deleted>ty country, we would write that Thailand is nice and it treat foreigners well. That will get tourists here as soon as possible without paying millions of Baht on advertising that does not work. "Make Thailand to the LOS again".

That would require an open mind, intelligence, vision, and decency. None of those qualities are present in even a single minister in this cabinet. 

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

This came just days after his deputy presented four scenarios including a best case 3 million, as reported by ASEAN Now at the weekend.

The worst case scenario is that the Delta variant will show-up on the island, making a tough decision for some to make whether to close it or risk everything by keeping everything open.

Plus the promise of after 14 days you can go nationwide, just as Delta is spreading fast.

[hotchilli]

46 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Has the penny dropped?

I hope the baht does.

[spidermike007]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

The worst case scenario is that the Delta variant will show-up on the island, making a tough decision for some to make whether to close it or risk everything by keeping everything open.

Plus the promise of after 14 days you can go nationwide, just as Delta is spreading fast.

A very dangerous situation for any foreigner who shows up here. 

[paulikens]

not many people here but still immigration is always rammed, in actual fact its worse than it use to be in peak season. 

[Stargeezr]

I agree, that the Sand box and Anutin says whatever happens in the sandbox stays in the sand box. Those lucky tourists may have

their total holiday enjoyed in Phuket, as the rules may change due to Delta and maybe the Brazil variant as well.

Who really knows what the next 2 weeks will bring.

Geezer

[internationalism]

22 hours ago, chalawaan said:

He's got the haircut that matters, and that's all that matters!

 

He'll do very well. 

 

Even if they have to pay tourists to come on his watch, and quite frankly, since everyone else gets fistfuls of money for anything ever to happen in LoS -perhaps they should.

yes, it's similar to "904" military and police obligatory haircut.

I do think he did dismiss those 1-3mln for this year and still works on 7-21mln planned earlier.

The highest numbers they cook up, the larger their salaries, subsidies and potential larger kick backs from ASQ and ALQ hotels from phuket, and shortly from samui and pattaya.

In fact, the ASQ are under direct supervision of army. I would suspect, that ALQ  are also army directly controlled.

The very chief of this tourist organisation is a perfect tool to launder and transfer money to those in charge of 904 haircut 

[NoshowJones]

21 hours ago, Parsve said:

A sensible statement. What I do not understand, however, is that those in charge in Thailand have not understood what marketers in other countries have known for decades, namely that the best sales channel is not advertising, it is satisfied customers. In the case of Thailand, this would mean that they provide relief for foreigners who already live / are in Thailand instead of treating us as criminals, unwelcome or sixth class citizens.

that will make a change from us. Instead of writing to our friends in other countries, that Thailand is a <deleted>ty country, we would write that Thailand is nice and it treat foreigners well. That will get tourists here as soon as possible without paying millions of Baht on advertising that does not work. "Make Thailand to the LOS again".

Thailand Make "Thailand to the LOS again". Thailand already is LOS. Land of Stupidity.

[Mr Meeseeks]

21 hours ago, Surelynot said:

Spot on...........if I could speak German I would make a fortune retraining the whole country........they do not have a clue about customer care........customers are generally viewed as a nuisance !