Nothing will save the Thai tourism industry

[h90]

The protestors and troops have moved on, but that doesn't mean the tourists will forgive and forget and come flooding back, especially when you see this violence and mayhem on CNN and BBC every few months.

The average international tourist, from where-ever, wont be forgeting this in a hurry. They will be too worried to book a Thai holiday in the future for fear of their holiday being ruined by cancellations or worse.

RIP Thai tourism.

Ironically, this will help tourism in Thailand's "enemies" nearby, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and probably the P.I as people will see them as more stable. And once they discover these other places, they wont go back to Thailand. The Thais have not only shot themselves in the foot but given a big lift up to surrounding countries.

For sure two or three month of peace and quite the tourist's flood gate will open trust me, but in the mean time billions and billions of Baht will be loss. Whose fault is that red shirts, yellow shirts, green shirts, government(s) are you listening_UP

Maybe with a delay. People book some month before. Maybe 6 month before they go on holidays. So maybe the decline of tourists comes with a delay.

[Sporting Dog]

^^ I was implying that IF there was political instability in other countries such as Vietnam, tourists would be more concerned. 'would be' which implies future possibility. And no I'm not saying that it is going to happen in the future.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Sporting Dog

[webfact]

The protestors and troops have moved on, but that doesn't mean the tourists will forgive and forget and come flooding back, especially when you see this violence and mayhem on CNN and BBC every few months.

The average international tourist, from where-ever, wont be forgeting this in a hurry. They will be too worried to book a Thai holiday in the future for fear of their holiday being ruined by cancellations or worse.

RIP Thai tourism.

Ironically, this will help tourism in Thailand's "enemies" nearby, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and probably the P.I as people will see them as more stable. And once they discover these other places, they wont go back to Thailand. The Thais have not only shot themselves in the foot but given a big lift up to surrounding countries.

For sure two or three month of peace and quite the tourist's flood gate will open trust me, but in the mean time billions and billions of Baht will be loss. Whose fault is that red shirts, yellow shirts, green shirts, government(s) are you listening_UP

Maybe with a delay. People book some month before. Maybe 6 month before they go on holidays. So maybe the decline of tourists comes with a delay.

Yeah, I'll second that. Now its the time. I.e. in Europe people make their vacation plans right now - where to spent their time during winter. It is also the time for the winter travel brochures being thrown into the market.

[JR Texas]

There are great airfares available now - I don't know the data but I would think that Thailand gets many repeat visitors. And many of those that have visited previously would probably not feel too threatened by the political instability.....certainly not as much of a worry as instability in Cambodia, Vietnam would be.

I think the tourism industry will do relatively OK - the global downturn will probably have a bigger impact than the political situation.

Are you smoking one of those big Bob Marley cigarettes? No red/yellow shirt thugs running around causing mayhem. It may be communist but you'd hardly know it when you are in the country.

The main areas where Viet Nam lags Thailand are infrastructure and no visa exempt entry. Having said that you can get your visas on line within 24 hours, something Thailand could do with setting up.

Agree with Phil on this one: WHAT INSTABILITY IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA? Sounds like someone is smoking Xenophobia ignoramus narcissus.

[PhilHarries]

^^ I was implying that IF there was political instability in other countries such as Vietnam, tourists would be more concerned. 'would be' which implies future possibility. And no I'm not saying that it is going to happen in the future.

Okay, point taken IF there was going to be political instability in the country it is easier to get out of Thailand than VN particularly if you are away in the country.

I'm surprised someone hasn't pointed out that the Reds are running VN.

[notasexpat]

RIP thai girlfriend economy.

My gf tells me that every clothing shops in bangkok is going out of business because all the UK/AMERICAN guys working at the stockmarket in bangkok have lost their 500k+baht/month salary which 50% was used to pay their girlfriends to go shopping and stay with them. Actually most of them probably just left the country after feeling unwelcomed.

What does that mean? means all the girls who had a small clothing shop and worked at spice/spicey 3 days a week are now fulltime workers there. which means the fulltime workers now need to work everynnight and all day in a 7/11. and Then the 7/11 girls who lost their job to the 'workers' are back on the street because theres too many sumtam stands already.

lives are ruined.

[teacup]

Not just Thailand tho……Tourism will be down, no matter what country in the world in this global slump, not to mention - bad exchange rate.

Knowing that economy is so bad and not knowing what´s going to be like in future, most people will save their money for the worst to happen.

And I would assume most will be taking a few short weekend breaks, closer to home.

[webfact]

Thai tourism sees 200,000 job losses over crisis

Thailand's battered tourism sector could shed up to 200,000 jobs this year, industry experts warned as violent street battles in Bangkok triggered mass cancellations....

SOURCE: INTELLASIA.NET

Edited April 15, 2009 by webfact

[flying]

Not just Thailand tho……Tourism will be down, no matter what country in the world in this global slump, not to mention - bad exchange rate.

Knowing that economy is so bad and not knowing what´s going to be like in future, most people will save their money for the worst to happen.

And I would assume most will be taking a few short weekend breaks, closer to home.

Tuuk Dtong !

[longstebe]

You would be surprised how many people dont even know whats been going on in LOS.Yes, it has had a lot of coverage on the news but dont forget WE look out for it a bit more because most of us are somewhat involved with the place.The rescue of the American(captain held hostage by pirates) had a lot more coverage than Thailand did on CNN.I think people will overlook the events that have taken place in BKK when deciding whether to visit or not.How much fighting took place on the beautiful beaches it LOS?

[Ulysses G.]

Let's face it, no one expects cheap tropical locations with inexpensive "night life" to be very stable politically. Most people could care less if the locals fight amongst themselves as long as they mostly leave foreign tourists alone. In Thailand, there are usually very few deaths from these things and almost no tourists get killed.

[Birdman]

You would be surprised how many people dont even know whats been going on in LOS.Yes, it has had a lot of coverage on the news but dont forget WE look out for it a bit more because most of us are somewhat involved with the place.The rescue of the American(captain held hostage by pirates) had a lot more coverage than Thailand did on CNN.I think people will overlook the events that have taken place in BKK when deciding whether to visit or not.How much fighting took place on the beautiful beaches it LOS?

CNN is not the main source of information for the main market. For the Asian and European package tourist their local media is. And unfortunately they exaggerate as always.

[yogi]

i think family guys will avoide thailand,however single men dont care they will be here constantly.

[roamer]

60% of Thai tourism is from fellow ASEAN nations, having watched their leaders being evacuated by helicopter I think that figure will be way down, not to mention Japanese, Chinese etc. Whist the beach resorts catering to single males may not be so badly affected the family holiday will.

I've been getting daily Kayak fare alerts for Bangkok in August for the last week or so for direct flights from the UK, on Monday they were coming in at sub 500 sterling, thats down from 680 the previous week.

Los is not down and out but its trying hard....

[Zeid]

in favor of thailand, with all what has happened tourists have not been injured or confronted, yes it was annoying for many stranded in the airport, but many that follwed the system and registered got the assistance they need from the Thai Goverment

Compare the situtation of thailand to theo other, India, Bombs train hijacking.

Sri Lanka, denied the MFA of sweden, and will not do a truce

Malaysia, credit card fraud

Cambodia some are report it is more expensive that thailand when you look at the package as a whole

other ASEAN Countries nto considered as safe.

in my opinion i think thailand is still considered as a much better place to visit,

Edited April 29, 2009 by Zeid

[goodheartman]

The protestors and troops have moved on, but that doesn't mean the tourists will forgive and forget and come flooding back, especially when you see this violence and mayhem on CNN and BBC every few months.

The average international tourist, from where-ever, wont be forgeting this in a hurry. They will be too worried to book a Thai holiday in the future for fear of their holiday being ruined by cancellations or worse.

RIP Thai tourism.

Ironically, this will help tourism in Thailand's "enemies" nearby, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and probably the P.I as people will see them as more stable. And once they discover these other places, they wont go back to Thailand. The Thais have not only shot themselves in the foot but given a big lift up to surrounding countries.

no agree!

thailand got thai girls. people will be back even for the temples, food, culture,etc..................vietnam got nothing compared to los. i assume cambo got less than vietnam. and pi people dying to get out of there.

[Oberkommando]

Cambodia is my choice.

Phnom Penh was busy last week when I was there. More and more people discovering the grass is greener over there.

Still the wild west though, won't be everybody's cup of tea.

[moe666]

Thai tourism is like the stock market, what goes up, comes down, what goes down, goes up. The memory of most people is very short if Thailand can keep the bad news at bay for a while the tourist will be back.

[djlest]

Yes before we had the recent riots during songkran - everyone was moaning that tourism was down due to the yellow shirts hi jacking the airport.

Then before that incident everyone was moaning that tourism was down due to the military coup

And before that it was the tsunami and on and on and on...

The reality right now is that the exchange rates and global economy is ALL suffering some serious injury

For countries like the UK Thai prices are no longer cheap with 30% lost due to the exchange rates falling 6 months ago and the strong Thai baht

When Thailand suffered the world fuel crisis last year everything food related and gas related shot up.

Ofcourse when those fuel prices came back down the Thais did not reduce the costs of anything and were happy to keep inflated taxi prices and food prices as they were - Thus Thailand is far from cheap in comparrason to last year....

A few political warnings usually scare people away for a few months before they are forgotten or distracted by something else. The only EXCEPTION in this case - is that currently the government and the protesters are not showing any signs of backing down and are definitely planning another strategy... Hence it could happen again and so Thailand may indeed miss out on this years tourism....

I would personally love to see Cambodia and Laos taking full advantage of this because they are stunning countries with so much to offer, sure they are not as polished or pretentious as Thailand has become but 30 years ago neither was Thailand... And the same things can be found there for the same prices or less...

Every dog has its day and Thailand is an old dog - but if it was to die it would only become reincarnated as a FAT CAT for the richer folk to visit... which is exactly what they want!

Meaning the bigger resorts get richer, the poorer get poorer... and East becomes West...

[Lancelot]

Let's face it, no one expects cheap tropical locations with inexpensive "night life" to be very stable politically. Most people could care less if the locals fight amongst themselves as long as they mostly leave foreign tourists alone. In Thailand, there are usually very few deaths from these things and almost no tourists get killed.

Pretty well sums it up.

Thailand seems to bounce back after set backs. This too shall pass

[Scott]

Since they are always happy to bounce a little instead of bouncing high, they will meet expectations.

Mediocre comes to mind.

[midas]

There are great airfares available now - I don't know the data but I would think that Thailand gets many repeat visitors. And many of those that have visited previously would probably not feel too threatened by the political instability.....certainly not as much of a worry as instability in Cambodia, Vietnam would be.

I think the tourism industry will do relatively OK - the global downturn will probably have a bigger impact than the political situation.

Are you smoking one of those big Bob Marley cigarettes? No red/yellow shirt thugs running around causing mayhem. It may be communist but you'd hardly know it when you are in the country.

The main areas where Viet Nam lags Thailand are infrastructure and no visa exempt entry. Having said that you can get your visas on line within 24 hours, something Thailand could do with setting up.

Agreed and there is just as much to see and experience in Vietnam than in Thailand. Interesting and beautiful architecture, stunningly beautiful

natural features like Ha Long bay, very diverse and interesting cuisine etc

[yabaaaa]

The protestors and troops have moved on, but that doesn't mean the tourists will forgive and forget and come flooding back, especially when you see this violence and mayhem on CNN and BBC every few months.

The average international tourist, from where-ever, wont be forgeting this in a hurry. They will be too worried to book a Thai holiday in the future for fear of their holiday being ruined by cancellations or worse.

RIP Thai tourism.

Ironically, this will help tourism in Thailand's "enemies" nearby, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and probably the P.I as people will see them as more stable. And once they discover these other places, they wont go back to Thailand. The Thais have not only shot themselves in the foot but given a big lift up to surrounding countries.

Hm funny my friend just booked two weeks here she never mentioned the riots or anything like that, her deciding factor was..........cheap flight!!

I'd be lookin out for the cheap deals to Mexico too now.

Edited April 29, 2009 by yabaaaa

[adammike]

The only people who were negative about Thailand after the tsunami were those who had never been there.

When i told people I was going to Koh Chang "Oh what about the tsunami" of course the tsunami awful as it was

affected only one part of Thailand and not the eastern part.

Same with Aids

same with sars

same with bombs in the south

and now Mexican/swine flu 1000's of people die every year from flu.

The thing that stops people coming is money, if i check the price of flights they are now cheaper in the new year

than for the same time last year Euro 848 january 2009, Euro750 january 2010 with EVA from Amsterdam.

The Euro as most currencies do has peaks and troughs I got 32.9 baht for a Euro in march 2002 just after

the Euro was introduced And the rate was 53.3 at the end of last year its about 46 now.

Sure if the pound was about 70 when you moved to Los and its 50 now its a big hit.

Its not about cheap its about value for money I can find a perfectly good place to stay for 1000 baht thats Euro21

I get a bunk bed in a dormitory here in Amsterdam for that.

People not having a job will stop them coming.

people who have lost there savings will not come.

people who have lost the income after the stock market drops will not come.

The reason I might not come is because of the attitude of the locals

The lack of anything to do after the beach, bars are a bore for me now.

I really cant drink anymore so the evenings frankly are a drag

CULTURE there is no culture a bit of history, and I hope never to see a temple/cathedral/etc etc

as long as i live

So my libido and capacity to drink and stay up late have gone south so Thailand is just another option not

the only one.

I am thinking about flying to KL to use as a base and take trips to Bali,Phnom Pehn, and maybe Bangkok/Pattaya can fly

to each of them from KL with airasia for about $50-60.

Closing the airport might stop people coming but when the red shirts were about to move on the airport a word in there ear

that the troops had put real bullets in there guns and were going to use them was a reality check.

Anybody know any great beaches near KL?

[Ulysses G.]

Agreed and there is just as much to see and experience in Vietnam than in Thailand. Interesting and beautiful architecture, stunningly beautiful

natural features like Ha Long bay, very diverse and interesting cuisine etc

Don't forget Vietnamese people bothering, cheating and begging from you from dusk till dawn. It is not laid back like Thailand.

[dbrenn]

RIP Thai tourism.

Nah - tourists have short memories. A few months of quiet and the ones who still have jobs in their home countries will be back for sure. As other people have said here - look at the Tsunami as an example of death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. Phuket soon rebuilt and bounced back - enjoying a property boom soon afterwards.

[SPIKECM]

The protestors and troops have moved on, but that doesn't mean the tourists will forgive and forget and come flooding back, especially when you see this violence and mayhem on CNN and BBC every few months.

The average international tourist, from where-ever, wont be forgeting this in a hurry. They will be too worried to book a Thai holiday in the future for fear of their holiday being ruined by cancellations or worse.

RIP Thai tourism.

Ironically, this will help tourism in Thailand's "enemies" nearby, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and probably the P.I as people will see them as more stable. And once they discover these other places, they wont go back to Thailand. The Thais have not only shot themselves in the foot but given a big lift up to surrounding countries.

What? Tourists are going to go to cambodia and the philippines and once discovered not come back to Thailand? I don't think so. They probably will never go anywhere else but Thailand. I can't see the P.I. ever getting big on tourism. They try to ruin the whole experience just as you walk off the plane. "me poor filipino, you rich foreigner, please give me some money". Nice arrival.

Even Vietnam has managed to make the likes of Halong Bay into a tourist trap in a very short time. Complete with bites from dog ticks on these overnight boats.

Truth is the no country does tourism like Thailand. The effects from the political problems/world economy will carry on in the short term, but in the long term, Thailand will recover for sure.

I hardly think that Manila will ever take over from Bangkok or that Angeles will ever take over form Pattaya. Sianookville is a cheap holiday destination for pattaya sexpats, but it will never take over from Pattaya. No danger of that.

[Samuian]

Recovered from 1992 Coup, with dead people, army shooting in the heart of Bangkok

Recovered from the financial meltdown

Recovered from tsunami

sars

suvannabhum occupation

riots on songkran..

cycles, cycles, cycles... there are even people who say:

"It never was as quiet as it is now"

It always has been "dead"after Songkran passed, always!

And then the numbers of rooms, shops, restaurants, entertainment venues

are increasing exponentially too, not so the arrivals!

just a thought or 2....

[Zeid]

I was Emirates Holiday Travel Trade show today

and one of the travel agents was still saying that the Tsunami wa sthe big hit to thailand, and he is a travel agents and seems to have no idea about what happend in thailand.

funny but true

[koto]

While you may be correct in what you say what has this got to do with saying "God save the.........."?

For sure Thailand has not done itself any favours by the recent melee but it remains to be seen just how much damage has been done and how TAT will try and lessen the effects. It may be too early to be writing off Thailand's tourist industry but sure as eggs are oval it is NOT the time to be investing in a new luxury resort.

So true, Now is the time to start cleaning up Thailand, Let's all become a little bit more interested in stenciling all of the (STORM DRAINS) that are puke-ing Toxic waste into all of our natural waterways. Educating the Thai and Farang, that think a (STORM DRAIN) is a place to dump cooking, motor oil, sweeping trash into them, (IS ANYBODY OUT THERE) (DOES ANYBODY CARE) While toursium is down, Clean up the beaches, Start imposing fines on thoes that leave trash behind, flick toxic cigarette butts, leaving used camera batteries behind, Sounds like little things!! Tell that to The Voiceless, Children, Wildlife, Waterways, Baby"s are becoming ill, some die, by unknowingly ingesting Toxic Cigarette Butts, Batteries, Bottle caps, Our Sea Food and Fresh Water Fish are liveing and dieing in this contaminated toxic water, Killing many, along with Dolphins, Turtles, Seals, all Water, Land, Animals, Plant Life are being Killed by uncaring or uneducated people, Plastic is one of the number one problems also.

Please excuse my writing skills, But do read between the lines there is a very important message here.

There are millions of people that can't afford bottled water and we stand by and watch people contaminatr our water, trash our earth, We who stand by and let this happen are as much at fault as the people that don't care, or know better, To have a little more understanding http:solution2pollution.blogspot.com Might give one more insight on things that we all can do, Don't wait for your neighbor, It is all of our turn to give back to Mother Nature, Buddha and God Bless us all, Health and Happiness, Now is the only time there is.

One random act of kindness at a time. We are ALL in this neighborhoood together

I_BELIEVE.bmp