Battered Tourism Sector Seeks Urgent Government Help

[george]

Battered tourism sector seeks urgent government help

BANGKOK: -- Amid a sharp drop in tourist arrivals to Thailand, the country’s tourism agencies were alarmed and strongly urging the government to provide urgent measures to rescue the beleaguered industry.

Tosaporn Thepbutr, deputy-chairman of Committee on Tourism and Sports, said the Association of Domestic Travel (ADT), the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association (TCTA) and Thailand-Japan Tourism Promotion Association on Tuesday submitted a complaint letter to the committee.

They charged that although the government had announced tourism as a national priority, to date no concrete measures have been implemented by concerned-agencies to boost the country’s tourism industry. So the premier himself should intervene to resolve the problems.

Thailand’s tourist arrivals sharply drop to a critical level, Mr. Tosaporn said, in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009 due to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, or 33.45 per cent year-on-year.

Mr. Tosaporn said that with the falling number of tourist arrivals from almost every nation, except from Iran and Hong Kong, the earlier estimated arrival levels of 11 million tourists projected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will be unlikely to achieve the target.

"The causes of the sharp drop in tourist arrivals are attributed to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in November and December, and recent domestic political turmoil, combined with the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu,” Mr. Tosaporn said.

-- TNA 2009-06-17

[StevieH]

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

[jackdanielsesq]

Again, their math does not stack up, nor is there much that can be done at this late stage.

It will simply improve with the passing of time.

BR>Jack

[skorchio]

How does 165000 to 27000 equate to a 33.45% drop? Even if this statistic was meant to be a drop "OF" 27000, it does not add up. This is wildly wrong or else I an misinterpreting "year on year".......

Anyone?

[imaneggspurt]

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

I entirely agree, its like their vision is limited to the next meal,.

[kwarmcheua]

anyone know if they will give free 60 day tourist visas outside the country again? I liked that

[Baccusboy]

That's interesting. Swine flu? I don't believe it.

My friends and co-workers (I live in Korea) were considering vacation destinations. Thailand was, of course, on the list. Most are not going due to the history of political unrest, horror stories of tourists unable to leave airports in time, increased prices, and rumors of more scamming going on. Dozens of Koreans were trapped in Thai airports this past year, and that was big news here.

Two of our teachers returned from there recently after being scammed by taxi drivers and having police basically accuse them of trying to cheat the taxi driver! The story (true or not?) about the barmat woman was discussed as well, and how the police can't be trusted.

Guess where we decided to go? Back to visit family in America, instead. Might as well. Tickets are too cheap to pass up.

There are over 60 confirmed cases of swine flu in my home town -- so NO, swine flu isn't why we decided against Thailand this year.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Baccusboy

[hardy1943]

Again, their math does not stack up, nor is there much that can be done at this late stage.

It will simply improve with the passing of time.

BR>Jack

Just want to add it would also help to treat us that have been living here for several years

and been spending Millions of Baht to support their economy not to treat us as second or 3rd

class citizens. My wife and family are lovely but really THE BOYS in BKK suck

[StevieH]

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

I entirely agree, its like their vision is limited to the next meal,.

having lived in LOS for more than a year now i'm still struggling to get used to the short-termist thinking of the government.

[Pawpcorn]

How does 165000 to 27000 equate to a 33.45% drop? Even if this statistic was meant to be a drop "OF" 27000, it does not add up. This is wildly wrong or else I an misinterpreting "year on year".......

Anyone?

Hmmm my math... a drop of 611%, in as 27000 goes into 165000 6.11 times....

OR... this year is 16.3 % of what the previous year was...

Airport closures, riots, global economic recession, and now H1N1.... What's next???

[webfact]

Battered tourism sector seeks urgent government help

BANGKOK: -- Amid a sharp drop in tourist arrivals to Thailand, the country’s tourism agencies were alarmed and strongly urging the government to provide urgent measures to rescue the beleaguered industry.

Tosaporn Thepbutr, deputy-chairman of Committee on Tourism and Sports, said the Association of Domestic Travel (ADT), the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association (TCTA) and Thailand-Japan Tourism Promotion Association on Tuesday submitted a complaint letter to the committee.

They charged that although the government had announced tourism as a national priority, to date no concrete measures have been implemented by concerned-agencies to boost the country’s tourism industry. So the premier himself should intervene to resolve the problems.

Thailand’s tourist arrivals sharply drop to a critical level, Mr. Tosaporn said, in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009 due to the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, or 33.45 per cent year-on-year.

Mr. Tosaporn said that with the falling number of tourist arrivals from almost every nation, except from Iran and Hong Kong, the earlier estimated arrival levels of 11 million tourists projected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will be unlikely to achieve the target.

"The causes of the sharp drop in tourist arrivals are attributed to the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in November and December, and recent domestic political turmoil, combined with the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu,” Mr. Tosaporn said.

-- TNA 2009-06-17

Theres much more to add than that but nobody want lose face... right? I was thinking about visa policies and the attitude towards foreigners in general...

Now they reap what they sow and cry loud!

[StevieH]

Hmmm my math... a drop of 611%, in as 27000 goes into 165000 6.11 times....

OR... this year is 16.3 % of what the previous year was...

Airport closures, riots, global economic recession, and now H1N1.... What's next???

a 500% increase in the price of tourist visas. that'll do it.

[Capealava]

Xenophobic Yellow shirts caused the biggest damage when they shut down Suvarnabhumi. 300,000 travelers stranded- uncountable problems caused to those stranded. Foreign Minister Kasit thought is was 'FUN". They brought it on themselves. Kasit should be dumped to show the real change in Thailand's thinking. Red Shirts did not target tourist specically -Yellow and Kasit did.

[Thaihog]

Som nam nah... about time Thailand had a reality check, had it to good for to long.

Perhaps they will appreciate the Farang living in Thailand and stop making us jump through hoops all the time with their frequent changes in 'red tape'.

Legalizing foreign ownership of land would help boost the economy...wishful thinking....

[jasperguy]

I don't think it was just the airport and the red shirts...they messed around with the visas, they messed themselves up. I was choked when I had to do all those visa runs...

[nakedAIR1300]

and the red shirts are back at it again this week apparently, see this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Pattaya-16-J...ek-t273742.html

27,000 tourist and dropping!

some good news. anyone thinking of getting a work permit should do it ASAP! my lawyer called me this morning to say they are being very lenient at the moment and not blocking us as they usually would for one reason or another.

Edited June 17, 2009 by nakedAIR1300

[maxisrael]

I don't think its that bad,

When my (Thai) wife wants to order a hotel room in Bangkok asking for Thai price they say 1.200 Baht after telling her name with the non-Thai surname they raise the price with 500 Baht to 1.700 so we did not go there, and so several hotels more the same story.

The Last one ( after talking with the manager ) allowed it but no breakfast included ! telling him in that case no deal he agreed for including the breakfast.

So I think it's not so bad at all or........my idea better some than no money at all, but it seems some don't understand

[marc651]

in June alone, the number of tourist arrivals has dropped from 165,000 in the same period of 2008, to 27,000 in 2009

As today is June 17th, there is still about half a month to go before one could compare the results to June last year me thinks....

[Lancelot]

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

Yeah, I agree. I think its more about not taking responsibility and looking for some one/thing to blame. Swine Flu seems conveniant

[Geppis72]

anyone know if they will give free 60 day tourist visas outside the country again? I liked that

Ah Ah Ah.... what they should expect after all the mess they did ?

Sure to boost the tourism sector in their typical way to act, they will

make more difficult the Visas, for both tourists and foreign residents (which are the ones who generally can improve services, marketing, customer care etc etc)

make more difficult and complicate to acquire a properties here, rather then finally open their mind and finally allow

foreign to acquire till 1 Rai to avoid the typical speculator but to facilitate the ones coming over to spend the deserved

pension time or just to whom wish to invest some money here,

increase the domestic airfare rates which are really too high saying "amazing Thailand"

keep the taxis in island like Samui rip off the tourist as first welcome "this is Thailand" and

last but not least somehow they will burn off the next incoming peak season with some typical clever political moves...

Good luck Thailand, I still love you !

[h90]

I know some people who went to a neighbour country and got the only 14 day Visa (but wanted to stay longer).

Thailand is doing everything to get rid of the tourists and than they wonder why there are no tourists

Maybe there will be a time the government will understand that tourists won't come if it is better somewhere else.

[pattaya_girl]

It was only a matter of time - What do they expect, Tourism to be booming after all what has gone on.

I think it will go even worse unless something is done to make Tourists want to visit Thailand again.

Time will tell anyway.

[SabaiBKK]

Theres much more to add than that but nobody want lose face... right? I was thinking about visa policies and the attitude towards foreigners in general...

Now they reap what they sow and cry loud!

i agree 100% with you on this one .... my parents were supposed to come here in june , but instead decided to go to St Marteen as according to my mother at least over there they don't get ripped off, don't need visa , and are treated like normal people and not walking ATM's, my dad of course tried tro change the plans but evidence was there: in St Marteen they will have a real vacation , and not constantly be fighting not to get cheated on , not to mention that to come to Thailand they needed 80 000 miles per person for the ticket , when for st marteen it was only 60 000 miles .....

they may come here again , eventually when Thai Airways will decide to make fares at NORMAL prices .....

[thailandpeter2]

How does 165000 to 27000 equate to a 33.45% drop? Even if this statistic was meant to be a drop "OF" 27000, it does not add up. This is wildly wrong or else I an misinterpreting "year on year".......

Anyone?

I am always 'amazed' about the math of government and organizations here. remember, when a couple of months back, they reported a fall in exports of 20 ++ % and a fall in imports of 30 ++ % year-on-year, estimated a loss of 200 - 300 billion baht for the tourism industry (out of targeted 500 billion baht) and then estimated the GDP to shrink for 3-4 % this year? at that time i really wondered which sector would GROW that much to enable a shrinkage of only 3-4 %... and hey what, a little bit later they announced a shrinkage of the GDP 7.9 % in the first 3 month (year on year-basis). my estimate is rather that minus 10 % only this year would already be much better than could be expected... and now they come up with the sudden recognition that tourim is going to be REALLY bad this year... guess they never asked hotels and tour operators before how they are doing currently...

11 million tourist arrivals this year? i guess half of it would still be a quite good figure.

amazing thailand, really... but this hasn't really changed during my 17 years in the realm...

[h90]

I don't think its that bad,

When my (Thai) wife wants to order a hotel room in Bangkok asking for Thai price they say 1.200 Baht after telling her name with the non-Thai surname they raise the price with 500 Baht to 1.700 so we did not go there, and so several hotels more the same story.

The Last one ( after talking with the manager ) allowed it but no breakfast included ! telling him in that case no deal he agreed for including the breakfast.

So I think it's not so bad at all or........my idea better some than no money at all, but it seems some don't understand

yesterday I opened the "the nation" webpage.

There was a Phuket hotel "1800 Baht per day price for Thais and Expats". On their webpage the regular prices were around 4500 Baht per night.

What is that??? Imagine, you book there, for 4500 Baht per night and the guy next door tells you that he paid just 1800 THB.

I would feel ripped off.

[Asianrider]

Except for swine flu, all these problems are self-inflicted.

[pepi2005]

Yeah, TAT, blame something you can't influence, but ignore anything the govt indeed could change.

Really simple actions like 'crackdowns' on any places double-, triple- or quadriple-charging foreigners/tourists (including their own National parks! ), creating modern and competetive regulations for visas / work permits / land ownership of foreigners to keep up with their overtaking neighbors like Malaysia, or 'crackdowns' on the endless areas of corruption to finally show a serious leap towards developing into a 2nd world country would certainly help to 'PR away' the devastating events of the recent months proving to the world that despite all colorful glitzer and superficial smiles, essential parts/elements of Thailand are seriously aggressive, unstable, violent, foreigner-hating and only fitting 3rd world standards in terms of corruption, bureaucracy and incentives to invest.

just my 2 cents though,

p.

[Maverell]

The tourism downturn has little to do with H1N1 - it has all to do with exchange rates and rip offs.

I know 3 people in the UK who would be holidaying here right now if the exchange rate was better. I am sure most of you know people in your own countries in the same position. The same goes for rip offs - paying 500 baht for a 2 km journey in Phuket, or 100 baht for a 400 metre tuk tuk journey in Bangkok is a real turn off for a visitor when they realise that what they have paid is outrageous.

Likewise, they are trying to promote Pattaya as a family destination ! What a joke.

But of course I am a farang so must be wrong !!

[unforgiven]

How does 165000 to 27000 equate to a 33.45% drop? Even if this statistic was meant to be a drop "OF" 27000, it does not add up. This is wildly wrong or else I an misinterpreting "year on year".......

Anyone?

They just double the prices for tthe remaining falang buffalo......same same......but different!!!

[samuidave]

A 'state' in a state of absolute and complete denial. Try addressing the rampant and unrepentant racism, the insidious corruption, and the continual legal uncertainty which is buttressed with enforcement on a whim.

Swine flu? A closed airport?? What a complete and utter joke!