Songkren Generates Bt500 M For Samui

[Boater]

A 30 PERCENT increase in tourism income during the Songkran holidays boosted business income on Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, a tourism official said recently.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand director in Suratthani, Phanu Woramit, said money circulating on the three island destinations last Songkran reached Bt500 million from the Bt200 million initial estimate. “At first the income from tourism business during Songkran festival was estimated at Bt200 million, but the turbulent situation in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand caused Thais to come to Samui in numbers that we more than expected,” Woramit said.

Phanu said that during Songkran, the more popular destinations are usually in the north or northeast but that the anti-government protests caused tourists to go to alternative destinations including Samui, Phangan and Tao.

“The protests of the Red Shirts in Bangkok encouraged more Thai people to travel to the south, especially Suratthani. I think they believed that the province was more secure as there were no Red Shirt protests in the area,” the tourism official said.

Chanchot Piriyasthit, a business owner on Koh Phangan, also noted that a new group of Thai tourists discovered Koh Phangan.

“Some of them were newcomers from other regions of Thailand. It was beyond our expectations,” Chanchot said.

Somchao Kosol, a tour guide on Koh Samu, said the Red Shirt protests proved to have a positive effect on the island.

“The protests in Bangkok encouraged the domestic tourists to choose to vacation in areas where it was safer,” he said.

Officials, however, admitted that this was just a short-term advantage, as business operators need to find other measures in dealing on a long-term basis with the tourism meltdown, as it was reported that from May onward, room cancellations were 20-30 percent.

They said business operators have to find ways to attract more visitors, such as offering special discounts on ferry, plane and bus fares.

http://news.samuiexpress.net/songkran-generates-bt500.html

[Mark Wolfe]

And now all the tourists lured by Songkran are gone.

And, as an aside, I wonder how much water revenue was poured down the drain, literally.

Songkran is supposed to be something different from wasting potable water by throwing it on people. In some parts of the world, if people saw what went on here they would be scandalized.

By the way, these figures -- 30 percent and 200 million/500 million baht -- do I sense a rabbit being pulled out of a hat here? Estimates by whom? Using what figures or models? These number are almost certainly incorrect, and perhaps wildly so.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Mark Wolfe

[Rooo]

Sure,they are all reporting their taxable income.