240,000 Tourists Stranded In Thailand: Tourism Minister

[awayfoe]

With all the zillion words that have been posted on TV , i cannot recall just one that has shown any thought to the way the tourism buisness is being affected in a multitude of countries around the world . Millions of dollars are being lost in those countries and it has also cost airlines millions more dollars to repratriate their aircraft .Just how many agencies and the requisite staff to opperate them is most likely un-accountable , and how do you think they are going to feel about advertising Thailand as a destination in the future ?

Well at least that will put to rest that ridiculous I'm a proud Thai and you are just a Farang attitude for a few days.

ok you are a proud thai with thai attitude

[Shah Jahan]

how do they get the 240k count?

are they including those of use who never had any intention of leaving?

[mahtin]

how do they get the 240k count?

are they including those of use who never had any intention of leaving?

Just lies, damned lies and statistics

[annamaria4711]

how do they get the 240k count?

are they including those of use who never had any intention of leaving?

Its called a rosta.

it sits on the airlines IT and on the immigration computers

simple maths

[mahtin]

Its called a rosta.

A popular backpacker hairdo

[anotheruser]

Thailand receives 14,000,000 foreign tourists a year, thats about 40,000 every day on average... this is high season... every day more we will have 50,000 more stranded passengers... or 100 747-400's.

Haven't read the whole thread yet so maybe somebody has said this... How are 50,000 more people going to be stranded everyday when 50,000 people are not able to fly into Thailand each day? The people already in Thailand are being stranded but that is a finite number. If people were coming in around the usual high season rate and then not being able to leave then your figures would make sense. Whoever is stranded in Thailand now whatever the number is already there. Those that don't wish to ever become stranded are just not going to come.

[rainman]

Haven't read the whole thread yet so maybe somebody has said this... How are 50,000 more people going to be stranded everyday when 50,000 people are not able to fly into Thailand each day? The people already in Thailand are being stranded but that is a finite number. If people were coming in around the usual high season rate and then not being able to leave then your figures would make sense. Whoever is stranded in Thailand now whatever the number is already there. Those that don't wish to ever become stranded are just not going to come.

Because every day people are due to fly home. They don't count those who are still on holiday and not due to fly home yet.

[dgwooster]

If it hadn't been for the Mumbai thing this airport fiasco would have made a lot more news here in the States...maybe the only bit of good news for Thailand in all this.

[rainman]

If it hadn't been for the Mumbai thing this airport fiasco would have made a lot more news here in the States...maybe the only bit of good news for Thailand in all this.

And probably the reason why it hasn't ended yet. Absolutely no international pressure.

[anotheruser]

Yeah thought of that afterwards. How many people are in the country now? Regardless of how many flights go in or out a day that is the possible total. I would think 50,000 per day is too high as it was relatively the beginning of the high season. High season doesn't exactly start when hotels justify jacking the prices up like they do in November. I wouldn't doubt 30,000 per day though. I guess my point is that if this thing goes on for a long time which it is beginning to look like it will then the figure eventually will become 0 a day. It is just a matter of how many people are in Thailand now. I wasn't trying to minimize the figures at all.

For the people that are saying this is a matter for Thailand to deal with and mind your own business... this is having an impact an the entire region of SE Asia, Indochina in particular. The PAD are doing damage to all neighboring countries as well. The other airports in the region don't have anywhere near the number of international connections or frequency of flights. This protest is hurting some of the most desperate countries that surround Thailand and have nothing to do with any of this.

I am trying to get to Laos right now from Europe and there is a big black hole called Thailand blocking me. I was going to stop in BKK as this is usually compulsory to get to Laos. PAD has for all purposes spread their economic warfare to the innocent people of Laos. People only talk about people needing to leave Thailand but some people need to go to a country near Thailand and simply can't. My option is to fly to KL and spend probably around 3 days working my way over from there. Most tourists are not willing to do this. Laos is effectively as closed now as a Thai airport.

You can fly from KL or Spore to Laos but it is really expensive for a relatively short flight. Even so you can only fly to two places and the majority of flights go through BKK anyway. The other route you have is Cambodia and unless you have your visa in hand before getting to the Lao-Cambodian border you can't get through.

This is going to hurt many people doing business in a neighboring country that have absolutely no involvement in this. I could imagine hotels in Burma are in a pinch right now as well. VN and Cambodia fair a bit better but still are missing many connections. The best idea I have heard is to develop a second hub at HCMC. I hope that neighboring countries react by responding with positive developments to exploit this situation to their advantage.

Thailand's loss should be somebodies gain but with the stature BKK had as a hub everybody is losing. I can only hope that BKK has a rival hub developed in the next 5 years. A brilliant response to this would be neighboring countries to not allow aircraft use of their airspace. That should also be considered fun and games and completely harmless as it isn't violent. Imagine if flights going into Thailand were no longer welcome to go over the airspace of Cambodia, Laos, Viet Nam and Burma. I know that could never happen but the outcome is akin to what Thailand is doing to their neighbors now. Then Thai people might be able to appreciate the affect of what the airport blockade is. It is a two way street or it least it was...

Sorry for going off topic but it seems like it doesn't matter where this post goes as it is all a bunch of insane talk everywhere on these forums now. So far people have only mentioned the harm being done to Thai people and Farangs what about the others?

[kiakaha]

I can't think of another "democratic" country on earth where seizure of the main international gateway would not be met with swift, decisive force.

[tartempion]

Thailand receives 14,000,000 foreign tourists a year, thats about 40,000 every day on average... this is high season... every day more we will have 50,000 more stranded passengers... or 100 747-400's.

Sorry, Sir, this is NOT high season, won't start before Dec.15-20th.!

40 Minutes ago CNN live from Suvannabhum, there it was said that approx. 100.000 tourists are "stranded" in Thailand....leave "stranded" out of the equation and we might come to a few thousand - which are still enough of a challenge to handle!

Where did you get your maths degree?

40.000 tourists arriving/departing daily, count stay 10 days gives you 400.000 tourists now unable to return home, not all stranded, andf you come to a few thousand?

And high season starts dec 15 and ends Jan 10 then?

[annamaria4711]

My question exactly....who is bank rolling these Fascist Plutocratic <deleted>

Thailand: Bangkok airport siege is backed by higher powers

By Thomas Bell in Bangkok

Last Updated: 10:01pm GMT 30/11/2008

Who has got the power to hold Thailand - and a good sized chunk of global aviation - hostage? In the weird and manipulative world of Thai politics, where the real players hide behind proxies, its not an easy question to answer.

Some of the most powerful people in Thailand are rarely mentioned in newspapers. They hold themselves above questioning and above answers.

But a few things are clear. The anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has illegally occupied Government House since August and now occupies Bangkok's two airports, has only limited support.

Thai protestors mass at airports

On a big day their crowds swell to twenty or thirty thousand, but just two or three thousand is more typical. At Bangkok's international airport on Monday afternoon there appeared to be only a few hundred die-hards occupying one of Asia's most important transportation hubs.

The PAD will not disclose their donors, but the protest is known to have cost tens of thousands of pounds a day for the last six months. Anyone who turns up gets free food, free iced water and free live music.

The PAD seems to enjoy complete legal impunity for its actions. On Sunday one of the group's leaders, retired Major General Chamlong Srimuang, met with police to complain about a string of mysterious attacks against his supporters. He was not arrested for hijacking the country's two most important airports.

Bangkok's international airport carries about 3 per cent of global air- freight and 100 000 passengers a day, many of them transit passengers. Thai exporters say they are losing £56 million a day.

The loss of tourism during the Christmas peak system could knock 1.5 per cent off the country's GDP this year, industry leaders claim, and if tourist arrivals fall by half next year it could cost a million jobs.

On Monday the finance minister lowered his GDP growth forecast for 2009 from 4.5 to 2 per cent.

It is widely assumed in Thailand that the green light to do all this comes from senior figures in the royal palace or the army. The army has refused to intervene. Queen Sirikit signalled her support by attending a PAD funeral in October.

Meanwhile Thailand's elected government - chosen by the poor but loathed by the urban and aristocratic elite- has been driven into a kind of internal exile, holed up in their electoral stronghold in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

[steviekes]

Is Thaivisa doing anything to help "on the ground"? I live about 45 minutes from U Tapao and would like to form assistance teams to help stranded farangs. Any ideas?

[Jazzmaster]

This is all so ironic and such a sad state of affairs.....its all about the elephant in the room and nobody can talk about it...Thank God for Freedom of Speech in my country!!!

[barryjohnson]

Thailand receives 14,000,000 foreign tourists a year, thats about 40,000 every day on average... this is high season... every day more we will have 50,000 more stranded passengers... or 100 747-400's.

Haven't read the whole thread yet so maybe somebody has said this... How are 50,000 more people going to be stranded everyday when 50,000 people are not able to fly into Thailand each day? The people already in Thailand are being stranded but that is a finite number. If people were coming in around the usual high season rate and then not being able to leave then your figures would make sense. Whoever is stranded in Thailand now whatever the number is already there. Those that don't wish to ever become stranded are just not going to come.

My estimates is that only 20%-25% of the visitors arr via BKK airport. The balance arr via other airports (CM, Phuket, Krabi, Had Yai, Samui) and land crossings (Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia). None overland from Myanmar.

[Visionhaze]

Minister assures 200,000 stranded passengers flights within 10 days

BANGKOK, Dec 1 (TNA) - Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports assured on Monday all 240,000 stranded passengers could board flights to their destinations within 10 days as Vietnam war-era U-tapao naval airport has been serving a great number of inbound and outbound passengers.

The anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy protesters continue to occupy Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport and Don Mueang airports.

The two airports have been closed since early last week, causing tens of thousands of international travellers to be stranded while thousands of Thais abroad are unable to return home.

U-tapao security chief Captain Somnuek Kaewmarerng said about 400 flights had so far used the U-tapao Naval airport, carrying 50,000 passengers.

Check-in counters at Bitec exhibition center in Bangna were now up and running around the clock to accommodate more passengers to check in for their flights and board buses to U-Tapao airport. Passengers are advised to arrive at Bi-Tec 7 hours before their flight departure time.

All check-in locations at six hotels in Bangkok, meanwhile, were closed on Monday.

Minister of Tourism and Sports Weerasak Kowsurat said another check in location at Muang Thong Thani will be ready by Wednesday.

It will serve passengers leaving for Nakorn Ratchasima airport which can accommodate three Boeing 737s at one time.

Bangkok Airways will operate 2 departing flights daily from Hua Hin airport departing at 2 pm and 5 pm to Samui airport for passengers to connect to Hong Kong.

All foreign passengers falling sick are eligible for free medical care at all private or public hospitals, according to the Public Health Minister Chalerm Yubumrung. (TNA)

General News : Last Update : 21:12:55 1 December 2008 (GMT+7:00)

http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=7533

[PhilHarries]

I can't think of another "democratic" country on earth where seizure of the main international gateway would not be met with swift, decisive force.

Well in just about every other country on earth, democratic or not (particularly not), the protesters would not have been allowed to get within a kilometer of the airport. Even if they did the security forces at the airport would have locked it down until reinforcements arrived to disperse the mob.

In short it would never have got to this state of affairs. Same can also be said of government house.

[tropo]

I thought the high season started in November??

Me too. I was under the impression it officially started on November 1.

[janneman]

Thailand's loss should be somebodies gain but with the stature BKK had as a hub everybody is losing. I can only hope that BKK has a rival hub developed in the next 5 years.

Utapao to be made new international airport for Pattaya -Rayong - Ko Chang

Add runways to Chiang Mai and Phuket airport.

Don Muang for those few who still want to go to Bangkok.

Convert Suvarnabhumi to a museum or mausoleum for Thaksin, friends and family - useless as an airport anyhow.

Devaluate THB by 10-20% and then just hope and pray tourists wil start to come again.

[VegasVic]

Thailand receives 14,000,000 foreign tourists a year, thats about 40,000 every day on average... this is high season... every day more we will have 50,000 more stranded passengers... or 100 747-400's.

Sorry, Sir, this is NOT high season, won't start before Dec.15-20th.!

40 Minutes ago CNN live from Suvannabhum, there it was said that approx. 100.000 tourists are "stranded" in Thailand....leave "stranded" out of the equation and we might come to a few thousand - which are still enough of a challenge to handle!

Sorry sir, but you must have not got the memo, high season in Thailand has been cancelled this year! Also most press reports worldwide have the number of stranded tourists at 300,000 currently This misadventure by the PAD will have a negative effect on tourisim during all seasons for years to come, but the serious fallout will be that foriegn investment will dry up and Thailands unemployment will skyrocket.

[oceano]

Thailand receives 14,000,000 foreign tourists a year, thats about 40,000 every day on average... this is high season... every day more we will have 50,000 more stranded passengers... or 100 747-400's.

Sorry, Sir, this is NOT high season, won't start before Dec.15-20th.!

40 Minutes ago CNN live from Suvannabhum, there it was said that approx. 100.000 tourists are "stranded" in Thailand....leave "stranded" out of the equation and we might come to a few thousand - which are still enough of a challenge to handle!

Sorry sir, but you must have not got the memo, high season in Thailand has been cancelled this year! Also most press reports worldwide have the number of stranded tourists at 300,000 currently This misadventure by the PAD will have a negative effect on tourisim during all seasons for years to come, but the serious fallout will be that foriegn investment will dry up and Thailands unemployment will skyrocket.

Sorry the ot...

What change for us expat all this?

I mean about business, visa, life in thai in general.

Is 5 yrs i stay here but this time i cannot undestand the difference...i hope we are lucky.