Govt Wants To Restore Foreign Tourist Confidence

[george]

Govt wants to restore foreign tourist confidence

BANGKOK: -- The government plans to launch a campaign to help restore confidence in the country’s tourist industry.

Under the scheme the government and private travel companies will explain to foreign tourists that the avian flu situation in Thailand has been controlled.

The government is taking this action in response to fears that the problem in Sriracha Tiger Zoo, where more rthan 60 tigers have died from bird flu, could affect Thailand’s tourism industry.

There has been no case of the bird flu disease being passed from animals to human, the director of the command centre for bird flu, Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong told TNA on Friday.

None of the caretakers at the zoo have contracted the disease from the tigers, he said.

Thailand is safe for visitors. There have been no new reported cases of humans with the infection for four weeks, said Dr. Charal.

This means the situation is under control, he insisted.

Since the second outbreak of the disease in the country in July, four patients have been officially confirmed as having contracting bird flu so far, three of whom have died.

There are around 142 cases still waiting for the results of laboratory tests to determine whether they have contracted the virus.

--TNA 2004-10-23

[Axel]

Great idea!

Perhaps it would be helpful to explain that the closing times of 1:00 am have been just a bad joke.

Neither will be there any raids and urin probes except in cases of utter crisis.

Tourist, leave your passports in the hotel safe, a simple photo idea with your name on and a calling card of your hotel is sufficient.

[stumonster]

There has been no case of the bird flu disease being passed from animals to human, the director of the command centre for bird flu, Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong told TNA on Friday.

Hopefully this is just a translation error.....

or has mr T declared birds to be banished from the animal kingdom

[Doi Thong]

Ohhh yeah it's so safe now for tourists here, they are executed in national parks, murdered by police officers, arrested for not carrying passposts, commiting a suicide by jumping from high floors with plastic bags on their heads, exploding in bars in deeps south etc. So safe!

[eljeque]

Thai philosophy: Mke it APPEAR good.

[Nam Kao]

Come to Thailand, give us your $$

AND LEAVE

[Doi Thong]

Come to Thailand, give us your $$

and LEAVE(if u can in one piece).

555555555

[Padkapow Guy]

Come to Thailand, give us your $$

AND LEAVE

Do you think this is the Thai's feelings in general or just the Thai goverments feelings?

[Heng]

Tourists who can afford permanent residency are more than welcome to stay as long as they like. Like Bill Heinecke, Jim Thompson, and B. Grimm.

[britmaveric]

Hmm they can start by scrapping the nightlife restrictions - that will do wonders for tourist confidence!

[astral]

The Thai government is making the bad mistake of assuming that tourists

will believe what they say, just like the Thai people do.

I wonder.

According to recent press reports there have been a small number of

animal to human transfer flu cases. Was the press lying or the minister?

Edited October 24, 2004 by astral

[p_brownstone]

Tourists who can afford permanent residency are more than welcome to stay as long as they like. Like Bill Heinecke, Jim Thompson, and B. Grimm.

Two of these chaps are dead.

The other is actually Thai.

[sublime]

i find this very interesting as the other day on the news they showed the bars being raided and that people of all ages and all works of life were being piss tested... and then the next segment was about the city council having a meeting about how to attract more tourists... lol

[Heng]

Tourists who can afford permanent residency are more than welcome to stay as long as they like.    Like Bill Heinecke, Jim Thompson, and B. Grimm.

Two of these chaps are dead.

The other is actually Thai.

Yeah, I didn't say it was easy.

[mango]

There has been no case of the bird flu disease being passed from animals to human, the director of the command centre for bird flu, Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong told TNA on Friday.

Hopefully this is just a translation error.....

or has mr T declared birds to be banished from the animal kingdom

I dont understand what you mean.

Cheers Mango

[Doctor John]

i find this very interesting as the other day on the news they showed the bars being raided and that people of all ages and all works of life were being piss tested... and then the next segment was about the city council having a meeting about how to attract more tourists... lol

Perhaps the people that associate Thailand as a place where they can do whatever they want, will be put off coming to Thailand in the future.

If you want to smoke dope, get drunk all night etc. Go to Spain.

You do have a choice.

[Richard W]

There has been no case of the bird flu disease being passed from animals to human, the director of the command centre for bird flu, Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong told TNA on Friday.

Hopefully this is just a translation error.....

or has mr T declared birds to be banished from the animal kingdom

I dont understand what you mean.

Cheers Mango

I'd suggest Dr C rather than Mr T. As สัตว์ปีก (literally 'winged animal') means 'bird', any translation is not from Thai! However, he may has decided that chickens are not birds, and may well have excluded them from the animal kingdom. At MCOT News: Govt asks Brussels to find out origin of infected eagles he says:

We will ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get in touch with Belgium officials to find out the source of the eagles. However, people need not to panic because we still don't have any scientific evidence to show that birds can pass on bird flu virus to humans. Only chickens do.

I haven't seen the eagle story before, so I will quote it in full (but in two parts) from the same article:

BANGKOK, Oct 24 (TNA) - Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would seek details from the Belgium government on the country of origin of the two bird flu infected eagles, smuggled by a Thai man who was arrested at Brussels Airport recently, said a senior health expert on Sunday.

Doctor Charal Trinvuthipong, the director of the government's command center for bird flu, told a TNA reporter that he believed the two sick Mountain Hawk Eagles were from other country because the kingdom  has exported foreign birds and it also has not exported eagles before.

''To take any animals or birds out of the kingdom, you must get a permission and have to go through a strict quarantine. Most of the birds we export are from foreign countries. So, I believe the two eagles were not from Thailand,'' he said.

If he indeed presents that as his reasoning, I hope for Thailand's sake he is lying. It is a frightening to think that he might believe this argument.

A Thai man,whose name was not revealed, was arrested last Monday by Belgium customs officials who found two live Asian eagles wrapped up in plastic tubes and hidden in his bags.

After the finding, the sick birds were destroyed and the Thai man quarantined as officials there fear he may have carried a risk of contacting the bird flu virus, said reporter for the AFP in Brussels.

Other passengers on the October 18 Bangkok-Brussels flight via Vienna were also advised to seek medical treatment if they develop serious flu-like symptoms although officials believe there was a little risk that they would have come into contact with the Thai man's bags.

''We will ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get in touch with Belgium officials to find out the source of the eagles. However, people need not to panic because we still don't have any scientific evidence to show that birds can pass on bird flu virus to humans. Only chickens do,'' said Doctor Charal.

Thailand has effectively and systematically controlled the bird flu outbreaks both in chickens and in humans, said the doctor, as the government has strictly banned movement of fowls out of infected areas.

There has been also no rule from the World Health Organization to restrict people traveling out of Thailand to foreign countries, he said.

Thailand has confirmed 11 deaths from the virus since the epidemic hit the country early this year.

Dr. Charal insisted the number of confirmed bird flu cases during the second outbreak since July has not increased. Three people have died in the ongoing second outbreak, he said, while one patient has recovered and another person is believed to be infected with the virus.

There have been 207 people who are waiting for laboratory tests from the govt labs to confirm the cause of their illness, said a TNA reporter.

Since early this month, government officials have suspected bird flu outbreaks in poultry in 493 areas in 51 province and have culled nearly 270,000 chickens so far.(TNA)-E110

Actually, this isn't the first report of it here - I've just noticed (over three hours after first posting) that Stumonster had condensed it on the bird flu tiger thread.

Edited October 24, 2004 by Richard W

[mango]

Wow that Eagle story was strange, strange that i have never heard about this before.

[Shriek]

"Govt Wants To Restore Foreign Tourist Confidence"

And they are really going about it the right way .

Bad tour guides (Thai) who rip off the package tourists and tell them Thailand is dangerous .

Closing Bars and Nightspots early , so the streets are dangerous in the early hours !

Making tourists carry passports and piss testing at random !

Mr Thaksin doing big U turns on everythink ! (lets hope on the above )

And now its time to visit Thailand ! Bring the family and go to Tesco ! but beware of the bus fare . Like the Japanese tours who go out alone and sometimes get charged 1000tb from Jomtien to Pattaya . And most importantly don't let any farang help us ,as our sign writing is so good CLEAN FOOD GOOD TASTE

[daveh]

Now I see why the sudden rash of early closings. I think the government will be using Avian flu as an excuse to explain why tourism is down. So if after the country is closing down at 1am and tourism is down 25%, they can blaim bird flu.

It really seems sometimes Thai's don't have a concept of cause and effect.

[RDN]

....Bad tour guides (Thai) who rip off the package tourists and tell them Thailand is dangerous ....

Crime: Murders with firearms (per capita) (Top 100 Countries)

1. South Africa.......0.74 per 1000 people

2. Colombia...........0.52 per 1000 people

3. Thailand............0.31 per 1000 people

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_wit_fir_cap

[mango]

....Bad tour guides (Thai) who rip off the package tourists and tell them Thailand is dangerous ....

Crime: Murders with firearms (per capita) (Top 100 Countries)

1. South Africa.......0.74 per 1000 people

2. Colombia...........0.52 per 1000 people

3. Thailand............0.31 per 1000 people

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_wit_fir_cap

Total crimes (per capita) (Top 100 Countries)

1. Dominica 112.79 per 1000 people

2. New Zealand 108.12 per 1000 people

3. Finland 102.15 per 1000 people

4. Denmark 93.64 per 1000 people

5. Chile 90.00 per 1000 people

6. United Kingdom 86.04 per 1000 people

7. Montserrat 83.49 per 1000 people

8. United States 81.55 per 1000 people

9. Netherlands 80.84 per 1000 people

10. South Africa 80.02 per 1000 people

11. Canada 76.89 per 1000 people

12. Germany 76.02 per 1000 people

13. Norway 72.60 per 1000 people

14. France 62.67 per 1000 people

15. Seychelles 53.39 per 1000 people

16. Hungary 44.80 per 1000 people

17. Estonia 41.03 per 1000 people

18. Czech Republic 38.19 per 1000 people

19. Italy 38.03 per 1000 people

20. Switzerland 37.02 per 1000 people

21. Portugal 35.96 per 1000 people

22. Slovenia 34.93 per 1000 people

23. Poland 32.80 per 1000 people

24. Korea, South 31.95 per 1000 people

25. Mauritius 29.69 per 1000 people

26. Zimbabwe 27.92 per 1000 people

27. Spain 22.95 per 1000 people

28. Lithuania 22.92 per 1000 people

29. Uruguay 21.71 per 1000 people

30. Latvia 21.37 per 1000 people

31. Ireland 20.71 per 1000 people

32. Russia 20.42 per 1000 people

33. Bulgaria 19.75 per 1000 people

34. Japan 19.20 per 1000 people

35. Romania 16.52 per 1000 people

36. Slovakia 16.35 per 1000 people

37. Jamaica 14.53 per 1000 people

38. Belarus 13.13 per 1000 people

39. Mexico 12.99 per 1000 people

40. Tunisia 12.75 per 1000 people

41. Costa Rica 12.34 per 1000 people

42. Ukraine 11.51 per 1000 people

43. Hong Kong 10.89 per 1000 people

44. Greece 9.63 per 1000 people

45. Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of 9.60 per 1000 people

46. Venezuela 9.57 per 1000 people

47. Thailand 8.79 per 1000 people

Cheers Mango

[sublime]

Perhaps the people that associate Thailand as a place where they can do whatever they want, will be put off coming to Thailand in the future.

If you want to smoke dope, get drunk all night etc. Go to Spain.

You do have a choice.

pretty close minded theory dont you think... i dont take any illegal drugs but i do like to go out on the weekend and drink... does that mean i should close my ligitimate businesses that i have spent years building here and move because they are implementing these rash new laws...

it affects everything, peoples jobs... if toursim is down investment will follow... it is not just about people partying, please consider the bigger picture...

[astral]

Bad tour guides (Thai) who rip off the package tourists and tell them Thailand is dangerous .

Is there any other type of Thai guide?

Only last week the governor in Phuket said they will be clamping down on foreign tour guides who speak the tourists own language,

and now they want to clamp down on the Thai ones.

Who will be left?

As for the Crimes statistics, is that crimes reported or solved?

I am not sure Thailand will be very good in the latter area.

[sriracha john]

Tourists who can afford permanent residency are more than welcome to stay as long as they like.    Like Bill Heinecke, Jim Thompson, and B. Grimm.

Two of these chaps are dead.

The other is actually Thai.

that pretty much sums up the current state of Thai tourism, yes?

[phormio]

Now I see why the sudden rash of early closings. I think the government will be using Avian flu as an excuse to explain why tourism is down. So if after the country is closing down at 1am and tourism is down 25%, they can blaim bird flu.

It really seems sometimes Thai's don't have a concept of cause and effect.

Sounds like excellent political analysis.

Did you figure this out yourself, or reference it somewhere else?

[Phil Conners]

....Bad tour guides (Thai) who rip off the package tourists and tell them Thailand is dangerous ....

Crime: Murders with firearms (per capita) (Top 100 Countries)

1. South Africa.......0.74 per 1000 people

2. Colombia...........0.52 per 1000 people

3. Thailand............0.31 per 1000 people

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_wit_fir_cap

Total crimes (per capita) (Top 100 Countries)

1. Dominica 112.79 per 1000 people

2. New Zealand 108.12 per 1000 people

3. Finland 102.15 per 1000 people

4. Denmark 93.64 per 1000 people

5. Chile 90.00 per 1000 people

6. United Kingdom 86.04 per 1000 people

7. Montserrat 83.49 per 1000 people

8. United States 81.55 per 1000 people

9. Netherlands 80.84 per 1000 people

10. South Africa 80.02 per 1000 people

11. Canada 76.89 per 1000 people

12. Germany 76.02 per 1000 people

13. Norway 72.60 per 1000 people

14. France 62.67 per 1000 people

15. Seychelles 53.39 per 1000 people

16. Hungary 44.80 per 1000 people

17. Estonia 41.03 per 1000 people

18. Czech Republic 38.19 per 1000 people

19. Italy 38.03 per 1000 people

20. Switzerland 37.02 per 1000 people

21. Portugal 35.96 per 1000 people

22. Slovenia 34.93 per 1000 people

23. Poland 32.80 per 1000 people

24. Korea, South 31.95 per 1000 people

25. Mauritius 29.69 per 1000 people

26. Zimbabwe 27.92 per 1000 people

27. Spain 22.95 per 1000 people

28. Lithuania 22.92 per 1000 people

29. Uruguay 21.71 per 1000 people

30. Latvia 21.37 per 1000 people

31. Ireland 20.71 per 1000 people

32. Russia 20.42 per 1000 people

33. Bulgaria 19.75 per 1000 people

34. Japan 19.20 per 1000 people

35. Romania 16.52 per 1000 people

36. Slovakia 16.35 per 1000 people

37. Jamaica 14.53 per 1000 people

38. Belarus 13.13 per 1000 people

39. Mexico 12.99 per 1000 people

40. Tunisia 12.75 per 1000 people

41. Costa Rica 12.34 per 1000 people

42. Ukraine 11.51 per 1000 people

43. Hong Kong 10.89 per 1000 people

44. Greece 9.63 per 1000 people

45. Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of 9.60 per 1000 people

46. Venezuela 9.57 per 1000 people

47. Thailand 8.79 per 1000 people

Cheers Mango

Statistics are so easy to abuse. I think if you dig a little you will find that most of the top-10 countries also are the countries where people actually are bothered to report crimes to the police, hence more reported crime.

[Phil Conners]

Wow that Eagle story was strange, strange that i have never heard about this before.

No cases of birdflu has been reported in Europe as far as I know. I don't think it's difficult to imagine how some poor sod was paid (for him) a lot of money to take a couple of infected birds from Thailand to Europe, get caught and say he got them in Europe. It would just be one of the kind of ways some people here would try to move the public eye somewhere else.

[mouse]

Under the scheme the government and private travel companies will explain to foreign tourists that the avian flu situation in Thailand has been controlled.

Good luck but if I were a tourist and my travel agent lied to me and I could proove it, I would definitely sue them based on the fact that my agent put me at risk when he or she could have suggested elsewhere. Imagine the suit if I or my family members, actually became sick while visiting here.

Why don't they just use their energies to combat the problem rather than fabricate BS. I live in the country and the chickens are running around like normal and no one has come to our village and done anything.

[Darknight]

" Under the scheme the government and private travel companies will explain to foreign tourists that the avian flu situation in Thailand has been controlled."

And the rain will be purple with yellow spots tomorrow