Foreign Arrivals In Thailand Set To Dip If Protests Turn Violent

[webfact]

Foreign arrivals set to dip if protests turn violent, says top economist

BANGKOK (TNA) -– The number of foreign arrivals in Thailand will drop below what many expected if the anti-government Red Shirt protests during March 12-14 turn violent, according to a leading economist.

Siam Commercial Bank Executive Vice President Sethaput Suthiwart-naru said the SCB Economic Intelligence Center (EIC) earlier projected that the number of foreign tourists in Thailand would increase by some 8-10 per cent or 15 million from that of last year.

He said the number of tourists, particularly those from Korea, India, and China, would fall below what EIC projected because the Asian tourists give the tour security and safety as a top priority.

Should the mass rally by the Red Shirt demonstrators escalate and turn violent, it would majorly undermine the tourism sector, he said, but how many foreign arrivals would drop depends on how the rally ends.

He said the invocation of the Internal Security Act in the capital and its environs had not helped boost the tourist confidence. Rather, it relied on how effective the government could supervise and control the situation to prevent any possible violence.

Dr Sethaput conceded Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) this year will grow at a lower level than expected at 3.5-4.5 per cent if the protests become violent.

Thailand's current economic growth stems mainly from increased exports and improved tourism, with the revenue earned from tourism representing 6-8 per cent of GDP.

He added the government’s efforts to ensure stability and safety of the tourism during the mass rally in this weekend are just a short-term solution to the tourism problem.

In the long run, the government must attempt to boost competitiveness of the tourism sector, he said. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-03-11

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[thaibeachlovers]

Now the Thai government's attempts to replace low budget tourists with hiclass ones is backfiring, as rich people can go anywhere in the world, and the backpackers and mongers who would have kept coming are priced out of LOS.

The only question is whether the policy will be reversed before it is too late, and Cambodia and the Phillipines take the customers away.

[cdnvic]

Now the Thai government's attempts to replace low budget tourists with hiclass ones is backfiring, as rich people can go anywhere in the world, and the backpackers and mongers who would have kept coming are priced out of LOS.

The only question is whether the policy will be reversed before it is too late, and Cambodia and the Phillipines take the customers away.

Two countries renowned for safety and personal security

[thaibeachlovers]

Now the Thai government's attempts to replace low budget tourists with hiclass ones is backfiring, as rich people can go anywhere in the world, and the backpackers and mongers who would have kept coming are priced out of LOS.

The only question is whether the policy will be reversed before it is too late, and Cambodia and the Phillipines take the customers away.

Two countries renowned for safety and personal security

Thailand was never a bastion of safety, but it never put off the mongers. It's prices that will keep them away.

Unless Cambodia and the Phillipines follow suit with the Hiclass stuff, my comments still stand.

[AGareth2]

what a suprise

[Naam]

Now the Thai government's attempts to replace low budget tourists with hiclass ones is backfiring, as rich people can go anywhere in the world, and the backpackers and mongers who would have kept coming are priced out of LOS.

The only question is whether the policy will be reversed before it is too late, and Cambodia and the Phillipines take the customers away.

Two countries renowned for safety and personal security

Thailand was never a bastion of safety, but it never put off the mongers. It's prices that will keep them away.

Unless Cambodia and the Phillipines follow suit with the Hiclass stuff, my comments still stand.

nothing wrong with that!

[gotlost]

This is a no brainer.

[bangkokrick]

You don't have to be leading economist to state the obvious. The BBC and CNN have been covering this story for most of the week, so everyone will be aware of the problems here in Thailand. The ones that are most in need of foreign investment and tourism are the ones that are killing it. The 500 Baht a day mercenaries will pay the price long term.

Cheers, Rick

[Thaihog]

'Foreign arrivals set to dip if things get voilent'...... no shit Sherlock...... I wonder how many hours they all sat in a meeting before they figured that one out.

Must have been the same meeting that came up with the GDP growth figures...

[LuckyLew]

500 a day mercenaries do not care about long term

They are happy to get the 500 today to feed there family

They will worry about long term, when long term gets here.

[ovaltina]

I think I will stay in the UK where disabled OAP's are burned alive in their homes by gangs of feral druggy youths;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/cri...set-alight.html

Its sort of quite violent in the rest of Europe also, and I hear America has had some instances of non-peaceful behaviour too? I'd love to meet these people who cancel holidays and stay in their home country despite the soaring violent crime rates at home. Ideally we all wanted Thailand to avoid all this, same as we wanted our birth nations to not be ghastly either lol.

We even had protests in London last year where the police used 'kettling' & lots of sit-down peaceful protestors were beaten up & one passer-by who was just walking home from work was pushed to the floor by a gang of armed UK police & he suffered internal bleeding & died.

[mythBuster]

The warning is funny. Of course foreign arrivals will set to dip. Good for us, bad for Thailand. But Kasit should have no trouble in foreigners avoiding Thailand, he considered airport occupations fun and he got his job because of the damage he caused to Thailand.

Nothing will happen though. I have not seen one violent demonstration organized by DAAD, the demonstration that went sour during Songkran was almost fully to blame on Newin. Newin is a person who has all his power thanks to the sheer violence he uses towards people. It was Newin who sent blue and black shirts after red shirts beating them up It was the government who mishandled the protests in Bangkok by not using riot police but for crown control unsuitable untrained boys subscripted in the military. Of the government refrains from using the military as a back up they can easily manage the crowd..

[kurtgruen]

On the brighter side of things, this could translate into more free visas and cheaper plane fares to Thailand. The swine flu scare in Mexico, still makes Mexico a cheap destination today :-)

Seriously though, most people, who travel to our part of Asia, don't get scared off by some local demonstrations, even if they do turn violent. People who scare easy, go to places such as Hawaii or the Caymen Islands. They would never come to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia anyways.

If someone does consider this part of the world, Thailand is still the safest destination.

One can pick worse locations, like the disabled Canadian, in a wheelchair, who got almost beat to death in Australia.

[moo9]

The warning is funny. Of course foreign arrivals will set to dip. Good for us, bad for Thailand. But Kasit should have no trouble in foreigners avoiding Thailand, he considered airport occupations fun and he got his job because of the damage he caused to Thailand.

Nothing will happen though. I have not seen one violent demonstration organized by DAAD, the demonstration that went sour during Songkran was almost fully to blame on Newin. Newin is a person who has all his power thanks to the sheer violence he uses towards people. It was Newin who sent blue and black shirts after red shirts beating them up It was the government who mishandled the protests in Bangkok by not using riot police but for crown control unsuitable untrained boys subscripted in the military. Of the government refrains from using the military as a back up they can easily manage the crowd..

Lol, you are telling funny stories! Newin's men (maybe the blue ones, who knows) clashed with some red shirts in Pattaya, but Newin's men never broke into the summit hotel, breaking windows and chasing out politicians and guests!

What would you say if the government would have used riot police? You think then everything would have ended in peace and with a joint dinner?

[anotherpeter]

The warning is funny. Of course foreign arrivals will set to dip. Good for us, bad for Thailand. But Kasit should have no trouble in foreigners avoiding Thailand, he considered airport occupations fun and he got his job because of the damage he caused to Thailand.

Nothing will happen though. I have not seen one violent demonstration organized by DAAD, the demonstration that went sour during Songkran was almost fully to blame on Newin. Newin is a person who has all his power thanks to the sheer violence he uses towards people. It was Newin who sent blue and black shirts after red shirts beating them up It was the government who mishandled the protests in Bangkok by not using riot police but for crown control unsuitable untrained boys subscripted in the military. Of the government refrains from using the military as a back up they can easily manage the crowd..

Was it read shirts burning buses and threatening to blow up gas tankers?

Maybe the government was prepared with riot police ... seeing how they were supposed to be peaceful protests.

But it's funny how you are canning the government for mishandling the last protests, and they are also being canned for setting up security for this "peaceful" protest.

[brd199]

I have not seen one violent demonstration organized by DAAD, the demonstration that went sour during Songkran was almost fully to blame on Newin.

I noticed quite a few posters have said over the past few weeks that you create more myths than you "bust", but geez, you're outdoing yourself now.

oh wait, I think I know an "out" for you in this case. You say you have "not seen one violent demonstation". If you don't ever watch or read the news, your statement could be true.

[george]

This topic continues here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thailand-Tou...er-t346430.html