Cancellations Are Swelling On Flights From Europe

[george]

Airlines see holiday bookings drop

BANGKOK : Cancellation numbers are swelling on flights from Europe and Asia as tourists scramble to avoid tsunami-devastated southern Thailand.

With Sunday's catastrophic Asian earthquake and the resulting devastation still fresh in their minds, several thousand international travelers are scrapping their trips to southern Thailand during the traditional peak season.

Between Christmas and New Year thousands of mainly Western tourists normally descend daily on the resort island pearl of Phuket, which was slammed along with several other popular beach resorts by the deadly waves.

"Incoming passengers at Phuket have dropped up to 40 percent since the tsunami lashed us," Chaisak Angkasuwan, the director general of Thailand's department of aviation, told AFP.

Thailand's prime resort destination saw more than 2.75 million foreign visitors last year.

Orient Thai Airlines, which operates 12 direct flights a week to Phuket from Hong Kong and South Korea, is being hit hard, the company's founder and president acknowledged.

"All passengers from overseas in Hong Kong and South Korea have totally cancelled for the next month," said Udom Tantiprasongchai.

"We are the airline that flies most passengers into Phuket and now even on our low-cost airline, One-Two-Go, flights to Phuket have reported lower domestic passengers."

The losses will top 100 million baht (2.6 million dollars) over one month, Udom said.

Flagship carrier Thai Airways International reportedly expects half of its inbound passengers to cancel flights this holiday week, prompting losses of 270 million baht (6.9 million dollars).

"The cancellations are expected to come mainly from tourists in Japan," president Kanok Abhiradee was quoted as saying in The Nation. The newspaper said similar losses from Europe were expected.

Thai Airways executives could not be reached for comment.

Japan Airlines, which flies some 1,500 people per day from Japan to Thailand, said it expects 20 percent of bookings to be scrapped.

"Half of our passengers continue on to Phuket but some of them are changing their plans," said regional manager Iwasaki Seiichi.

Wolfgang Schmidt, the general manager in Bangkok for Lufthansa, said: "We have seen some cancellations, of course, and some charter flights have been cancelled."

Not all incoming markets have been severely affected.

United Airlines daily jumbo jet flights into Bangkok from the United States are still virtually full during the holiday season, said the carrier's general manager in Thailand, Warren Gerig.

He acknowledged several travelers were likely trading in their beach holidays on Phuket, Krabi or Phang Nga -- the provinces worst-hit by the disaster -- for vacations in northern Thailand's mountains or on beach resorts on the eastern coast, such as Koh Samui or Hua Hin.

These were unaffected by the tsunamis.

Thailand reeled in 10 million foreign tourists last year, generating six percent of the nation's GDP. It aims to double arrivals to 20 million by 2008.

- AFP 2004-12-30

[astral]

Thailand reeled in 10 million foreign tourists last year, generating six percent of the nation's GDP. It aims to double arrivals to 20 million by 2008.

Never under-estimate Mother Nature.

First it was SARS, now the earthquake.

A shame when there are many alternate Thai resorts that are perfectly safe!!

On a relative scale, Thailand got off very lightly, compared to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. I guess the problem is the publicity which points out that a larger percentage of casualties and deaths here were visitors.

[sneef]

Well i just tried to get a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok and the prices that Thai airways want for the ticket are OVER THE TOP... so i said F&*K it and did not book... maybe if they consider being realistic about their prices then they might win some new business.

[Artisan]

Well i just tried to get a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok and the prices that Thai airways want for the ticket are OVER THE TOP... so i said F&*K it and did not book... maybe if they consider being realistic about their prices then they might win some new business.

Why not try for a cheaper flight from all the other airlines?

[Rhys]

Sad to report more exploitation will follow.. especially in the Relief AREA adminstration and Govt' skimming off the top..

MORE shall follow.. But the hard working people will prevail ...

[dragonmasterzip]

Never under-estimate Mother Nature.

First it was SARS,

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe SARS is more correctly written as SAMS ( Severe Acute Media Scare)

[Foggy Bottom]

But all these cancellations can't be true ......

Cheerless Leader announced Sunday that the disaster wouldn't affect tourism ..... and He's never wrong !!!

[chelseablue]

My heart goes out to all those people that was effected by the Tsunami. We are due to go out to Thailand (Cha-am resort) in March. Although March is a few months away, does anyone know if it was or how badly it was effected by the awful tradegy.

Anne

[gburns57au]

But all these cancellations can't be true ......

Cheerless Leader announced Sunday that the disaster wouldn't affect tourism ..... and He's never wrong !!!

Of course this will affect tourism to the area.....as did SARS, Bali and 911.....but it will bounce back.....I guess the main thing is to hope that there are still enough people willing to go there to sustain the tourist industry in the short term until confidence returns

[MichaelH]

Hi Anne,

No problem. Cha-am is on the East coast of the Thai isthmus, facing the Gulf of Thailand, only about 2 hours drive from Bangkok and is unaffected by all this. Have a wonderful holiday in March!

Michael

My heart goes out to all those people that was effected by the Tsunami.  We are due to go out to Thailand (Cha-am resort) in March.  Although March is a few months away, does anyone know if it was or how badly it was effected by the awful tradegy.

Anne

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Steve2UK]

Death is all around, but the band plays on for the tourist horde

For many in key Thai resort, it is sun, sex and booze as usual

Jason Burke in Phuket

Thursday December 30, 2004

The Guardian

Stefan Johansson, a 41-year-old air force officer from Sweden, is hoping that tonight is the night. He is not concerned about aftershocks hitting the beach half a mile from here, or about the haphazard rescue operation finally under way in southern Thailand.

Nor is he worried by the deaths of several hundred compatriots. Mr Johansson is anxious that the bar girl he has his eye on is going to keep holding out on him. "I'm having a good holiday," he said. "I went for a walk along the sand this morning, did a bit of swimming. Now I'm off drinking, and then we'll see."

Mr Johansson is not alone. Four days after the tidal wave hit, normal life has returned to much of Phuket and surrounding resorts such as Patong. The "girlie" bars are reopening, the bazaars selling rip-off Rolex watches are busy, the tourists are streaming off flights and on to the beach. Here Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's request for the country to wear black and forego New Year festivities seems likely to fall on deaf ears.

"I heard what was going on with the wave and so on, and I just thought it was a bit of an exaggeration," said Peter Anstiss, 48, from Sydney, as he shared a beer with his brother in a bar off Patong beach's main drag. "I didn't think too much about it."

At Phuket's airport, Pornthip Sucharitcharan was preparing to welcome 200 new arrivals on behalf of the Phuket Hilton. Today another 200 guests will fly in to stay at the hotel.

The only problem, as far as Mr Sucharitcharan was concerned, were delays caused to commercial passenger flights by the unprecedented number of aircraft landing at the airport. The congestion is due to aid flights coming in and planes bearing the dead, injured and badly shaken out.

The search, rescue and humanitarian relief operation in southern Thailand has finally moved beyond the immediate vicinity of the largest tourists centres. The Thai military yesterday started using heavy earth-moving equipment at Khao Lak, 60 miles north of Phuket, on a series of ruined resort hotels where large numbers of victims are believed to be under the rubble.

Survivors have criticised the slow pace of the rescue operation. Ricardo Cavallo's young daughter was torn from his wife's arms as the couple ran from the wave. Mr Cavallo, from Portugal, has spent the last three days searching for her body in the rubble of a resort at Khao Lak. "For the first two days it was just me and some staff from our hotel with our bare hands. The authorities were nowhere to be seen," he said.

Colonel Arun Khaewwathi, heading the rescue effort in Takua Pa province to the north of Phuket, said that work was being hampered by a shortage of equipment, heat and the fear of aftershocks.

German, Swedish and Taiwanese specialist teams have now arrived. However, the death toll in Thailand continues to rise - to 1,657 with at least 1,500 missing. The dead include 473 foreigners, including up to 43 Britons.

But no one knows the true number of dead. Thousands of locals are thought to have been killed when their flimsy bamboo homes were destroyed.

Many remote fishing villages are yet to be reached though reports indicate severe damage. There is also little hard information on the effect of the tidal wave on islands to the south of Phuket.

Yet the luxury Royal Lighthouse Villas is booked up for the rest of the season, and has had no cancellations following the disaster. And the sprawling Diamond Cliff Resort, set on a bluff directly above Phuket's debris-strewn Patong beach, welcomed 136 new guests yesterday.

One new arrival at the Diamond Cliff, who flew in with her family from Moscow on Tuesday, relaxed on a lounger beside the pool. "We are here on holiday, not to be sad," she said. "I know bad things have happened, but it's nothing to do with us."

With many beaches still covered in debris, and corpses still being brought in by the tide, most tourists are staying in their hotels. And though many of those in Phuket when the tidal wave struck have left, others are seeing out the rest of their holiday.

Last night Sally Capuvanno, 39, from Leeds, was heading off for her first night out of her hotel since the disaster. "We have been cocooned here. You'd never know it had happened. Now it's all getting back to normal," she said.

Others at her resort, only 100 metres from the water's edge, said they had heard nothing as they lay by the pool when the tidal wave struck.

In Phuket's marina yesterday, yachtsmen were refitting damaged boats. Few had any intention of giving up long-held ambitions to sail around the Thai islands. "We will head on in a few weeks once we have got everything sorted out," said David Kennedy, a 45-year-old Londoner.

Back in Patong, Elliot Reid, from Melbourne, was finishing his gin and tonic. "I heard the warning from the government not to go to Phuket and just thought, ###### 'em," he said.

"At the end of the day, if your number's up, your number's up. By the time the next one happens in a hundred years, I'll be dead."

[viktorrak]

Never under-estimate Mother Nature.

First it was SARS,

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe SARS is more correctly written as SAMS ( Severe Acute Media Scare)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

SAMS - totally agree, you made the point

[siamruby]

A friend of mine is due out in phuket in 3 weeks time,He has cancelled his flight from BKK to PKT,and was told he has no refund on the 2 tickets because he wants to cancel,

But as a Thai, I would encourage everyone to go there. Money you spend there will be a great help. I also have just seen the news on ITV in uk just now and they talked about people are still flying to Sri Langa. They said the Sri Langa government are so please about it that they are not losing the tourism business too.

Edited December 30, 2004 by siamruby

[oxo]

I will be flying out on the 5th as schedule, they need support. Words cannot express the way i feel at the moment.

[RDN]

... has cancelled his flight from BKK to PKT,and was told he has no refund on the 2 tickets ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Som nam naa! In three weeks Phuket will be looking great! It was looking pretty good tonight....only 5 days after the disaster. In three weeks, it'll be business as usual in most places. Only some businesses on the beach roads are affected, other places are fine.

[sonthaya]

I will be flying out on the 5th as schedule, they need support.  Words cannot express the way i feel at the moment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very good, I whish you a happy holiday, we need people like you to help and support the people hit by the disaster

[Lioneric]

... has cancelled his flight from BKK to PKT,and was told he has no refund on the 2 tickets ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Som nam naa! In three weeks Phuket will be looking great! It was looking pretty good tonight....only 5 days after the disaster. In three weeks, it'll be business as usual in most places. Only some businesses on the beach roads are affected, other places are fine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sad to see in Bangkokpost that some of the bar girls dancing and farang drinking beers enjoying themself in Patong beach, It's noting wrong with that but can't just they remember some workers are still working round the clock to indentify bodies,cleaning up the mass, getting ready for dieseas outbreak,making donation,looking for loss one etc but those idiot are just pretend noting have happen before ,at lease try to help some of the job to ease the burden of volenteer by picking up some rubbish or do something.

[RDN]

....Sad to see in Bangkokpost that some of the bar girls dancing and farang drinking beers enjoying themself in Patong beach....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You mean like this bunch I snapped in a Bangla road bar two days after the disaster. I too felt more than a little uncomfortable, but life must go on.

[bkkbound04]

for all we know the peeps in the picture have just finished a shift of helping with the rescue and need a drink?

the pictures that have annoyed/upset me are the ones with people visiting the beaches to pose smiling with signs of were they are, the date the photo was taken for all to see-to me that's just inconsiderate