Thai Turmoil 'disastrous' For Tourism: Finance Minister

[duceahearts]

Exactly. For healing to happen on all sides, facts are going to have to be faced. And a basic fact is the recent events are indeed the most severe mess in modern Thai history, entirely DWARFING the airport event.

I hear what you're saying but a riot in BKK wouldn't stop me having a holiday in HuaHin but closing the airport would make me think.

[whybother]

I willbe staying in HuaHin for thenext 2 weeks,wonder what its like their.

Hot and humid.... Some even say boring

Perhaps a little staid for sexpat rockers but HH is nice and certainly one-up from that dodgy, grotty place across the Gulf.

Agreed. I much prefer the beach and atmosphere in HH. Even Cha-am is better than the other side.

[whybother]

Exactly. For healing to happen on all sides, facts are going to have to be faced. And a basic fact is the recent events are indeed the most severe mess in modern Thai history, entirely DWARFING the airport event.

I hear what you're saying but a riot in BKK wouldn't stop me having a holiday in HuaHin but closing the airport would make me think.

Closing the airport stops you from going for few days. Once it's over, it's basically forgotten about. It's not good ofr tourism, but it's just an inconvenience. It's just a strike, which happens everywhere from time to time.

Violent protests and mobs burning buildings make tourists scared to come. Some of it is unwarranted, given that Samui, Phuket and Pattaya don't have any problems. But tourists don't know that, and just see protestors with guns and buildings burning down. That picture stays in their mind for a long time.

Edited May 21, 2010 by whybother

[CHdiver]

Maybe devaluate the bath?

Yep, I don't value a bath either; much prefer a shower.

I willbe staying in HuaHin for thenext 2 weeks,wonder what its like their.

Hot and humid.... Some even say boring

Perhaps a little staid for sexpat rockers but HH is nice and certainly one-up from that dodgy, grotty place across the Gulf.

Being a Wank, having one or getting one, that's the Question.......

Edited May 21, 2010 by CHdiver

[way2muchcoffee]

Phuket is nowhere near 40% full, looking at the touristy bits on the island I wouod be suprised if the true fiqure was 10% full. Pehaps they mean 40% of normal low season occupancy.

The wife and I live off Sathorn and drove to Phuket when things started going south in BKK. We stayed for a few days. The beaches were deserted. We stayed on Karon at a 3-star place normally in the 2500 bt range at a nightly rate of 800 bt. Even the tuk tuk mafia were giving discounts. Never thought I'd see that!

Edited May 21, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[idiot farang]

Maybe devaluate the bath?

are you french, by chance?

[Oberkommando]

The airport event was short. There was not major destruction, gun battles, burning buildings. I can't respect opinions of people who don't face basic facts.

The airport takeover cost billions. Who's not being honest with themselves here?

When you take over international airports then it affects other countries as well, not only causing irrevocable damage to the local economy in terms of reputation and trade but also confidence, as airports are seen as an untouchable area internationally, however in Thailand the government not only failed to act, the airport takeovers were rewarded with positions in the cabinet and other benefits.

Of course if the airport and Government house were not laid siege to by the PAD, the reds would not have taken over Rajaprasong as a result of that precedent.

Don't be mistaken, the PAD and the military having forced the country into its current predicament did irrevocable damage, long before the red-shirts were a force to be reckoned with.

Bangkok can rebuild its shopping malls, but the damage done to Thailand's reputation thanks to taking over an international airport will never be forgotten or repaired.

[Oberkommando]

Violent protests and mobs burning buildings make tourists scared to come. Some of it is unwarranted, given that Samui, Phuket and Pattaya don't have any problems. But tourists don't know that, and just see protestors with guns and buildings burning down. That picture stays in their mind for a long time.

The airport takeover directly affected 500,000 to a million tourists.

How many tourists were directly affected by the rally in Rajaprasong, and the subsequent violence?

Nowhere near that many is your answer.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Oberkommando

[Changian]

Thank God we have a good man like Korn in the finance ministry, instead one of the Thaksin morons.

Isn't that a Rock band?

Yep, correct.

Thai wikipedia has a listing for the 'Thaksin morons' . A prog-rock four piece combo who fused the best of morlam with a dash of Rick Wakeman and some mid 90s REM. Hailing from Buriram they initially took Isaan by storm selling out Mukdahan Cockfighting Arena in less than 10 minutes, still a record to this day. Two hits later and they disbanded as it was rice harvest time.

[mauGR1]

Besides the numbers predictions, the future for tourism looks grim.

The 20% predicted unemployment means a steady rise in scams and criminality which already affect the Kingdom.Expats are likely to become easy targets.

I have a gut feeling that Thailand will not be the same anymore, just look at the faces around..The Thais are not smiling, the few tourists seem to ask themselves what fun is to be here.

Sorry but i am pessimistic.

[whybother]

Violent protests and mobs burning buildings make tourists scared to come. Some of it is unwarranted, given that Samui, Phuket and Pattaya don't have any problems. But tourists don't know that, and just see protestors with guns and buildings burning down. That picture stays in their mind for a long time.

The airport takeover directly affected 500,000 to a million tourists.

How many tourists were directly affected by the rally in Rajaprasong, and the subsequent violence?

Nowhere near that many is your answer.

A strike at Heathrow affects a million tourists too. But once the strike is over, things get back to normal very quickly. The Iceland volcano is a case in point. It stops people from travelling at the time, but as soon as it's over, things get back to normal.

The protests shut down the tourist centre for over 6 weeks. There were a number of grenade attacks, some killing innocent by-standers at a train station, and an RPG attack on a hotel. And then violent mobs burning down buildings.

Many international governments have had "advised not to travel" warnings for weeks.

The violence and the warnings are what the tourists see and remember. There are not the tourists directly affected like the airport seizure, but that's because the tourists just aren't coming to Thailand now.

[thaigold]

Not to forget the disaster after the airport blockage of the Yellow Shirts two years ago...

Not forgetting. However, the damage from the reds is easily a HUNDRED times more severe and long term than the airport incident. Face reality. There is no comparison in severity.

One of the reasons the Reds held their rally with impunity was because not one Yellow shirt went to jail for their insurrection 18-months ago. In fact right now ASTV is back on the air spewing venom and vengeful rhetoric. So sad.

[whybother]

Not to forget the disaster after the airport blockage of the Yellow Shirts two years ago...

Not forgetting. However, the damage from the reds is easily a HUNDRED times more severe and long term than the airport incident. Face reality. There is no comparison in severity.

One of the reasons the Reds held their rally with impunity was because not one Yellow shirt went to jail for their insurrection 18-months ago. In fact right now ASTV is back on the air spewing venom and vengeful rhetoric. So sad.

I've never watched it. What are they saying?

[thaigold]

Not to forget the disaster after the airport blockage of the Yellow Shirts two years ago...

Not forgetting. However, the damage from the reds is easily a HUNDRED times more severe and long term than the airport incident. Face reality. There is no comparison in severity.

One of the reasons the Reds held their rally with impunity was because not one Yellow shirt went to jail for their insurrection 18-months ago. In fact right now ASTV is back on the air spewing venom and vengeful rhetoric. So sad.

[DP25]

15 to 20 percent of EMPLOYMENT is very significant. Even if half of those people lose their jobs long term (and that seems probable) that is a very big deal.

There is no way that number can be accurate. They must be counting every single business that a tourist could possible go in to. Like every single restaurant, bar, store, and 7-11 in the country that a foreigner could walk in to.

[thaisomchai]

Maybe devaluate the bath?

I know you can take a bath but devaluate one?

This is a new one on me . .please explain.

And can you devaluate a shower too or just a bath?

[Oberkommando]

A strike at Heathrow affects a million tourists too. But once the strike is over, things get back to normal very quickly.

The PAD takeover of Thailand's international airports wasn't a strike. It was a forceful takeover and shutdown by organised paramilitary elements of the PAD and galvanised by thousands of PAD protesters including women and children.

However the biggest factor in tourism falling will be the strength of the Baht relative to other currencies.

[asiawatcher]

Well with tourism down and the stupid request by its head this week saying he wanted 1.6BN Baht to reestablish tourism, I guess that meant .6BN for the grifters within TAT and 1BN for use elsewhere to try to enhance the industry! Right now that would be a totally wasted input as Thailand has no credibility at all - and possibly for the next 8-12 months same as last time.

Maybe they can start by charging Juthamas Siriwan and her daughter and trying to get the USD1.6Million back from her or has that all been swept under the rug and she will not be charged. And the wheel of corruption keeps turning.... TIT

[khunya]

Korn said: "Thailand is committed to making our democracy work. We believe that building on giving equal rights to all our citizens is essential to sustainable economic development in the long term."

The lesson from the political turmoil, he said, "might be that open, competitive, and relatively equal access to resources and opportunities is more important than the strict Western model of democracy."

What did this Thai finance minister was saying and what did he mean by "strict Western model of democracy."? He should have added that Thailand under power-that-be is committed to making our "thai style" democracy work by disregarding the votes of the poor and under educated. His statement was laughable. How can the country be open if

it doesn't respect the voices and the votes of ALL people? How these poor and working class people have equal access and opportunities if their voices are always being shut down by these "intellectuals" in Bangkok?

[asiawatcher]

Maybe devaluate the bath?

I know you can take a bath but devaluate one?

This is a new one on me . .please explain.

And can you devaluate a shower too or just a bath?

I thought devalue the Baht was a start but devaluate the bath - I think this sounds like money laundering to me

[Griffin09]

After all this noise about tourism declining, they still only gave me 15 days for a visa on entry today at Aranyapathet!

[hokibob]

as the world's economy is also facing turmoil and heading to catastrophy so be prepared for the worst and i believe thailand will be hit the hardest among asian countries...

[scotbeve]

I did read in a Swiss Newspaper that there where not many People where changing away from Thailand and many Hotels in Phuket where fully booked.

That would be utter nonsense as most places in Phuket are currently empty.

However, the damage from the reds is easily a HUNDRED times more severe and long term than the airport incident.

Taking over and closing international airports causes far more damage to the economy than burning shopping malls and occupying downtown areas I'm afraid.

The reds might have kept tourists away from Bangkok but the PAD ensured nobody could come to Thailand at all.

It's a crying shame the PAD were not punished and obviously the red shirts saw that precedent.

You are not being honest at all. The airport event was short. There was not major destruction, gun battles, burning buildings. I can't respect opinions of people who don't face basic facts. The impact of this crisis is objectively MUCH MORE SEVERE than the airport event. The reds used that as an excuse, and they outdid themselves.

I believe there was a quote of something like Thai Airways alone lost (a very conservative number...) 500,000 M Baht for the airport fiasco. And the rest of the airlines, cargo??? AND the tourists that definitely won't be coming back after that?

[peter48]

Financial Times reported Thursday in a whole page devoted to Thailand's turmoil (despite all the violence shown on the world's TV screens) that Thailand's tiger economy is doing very well, that investors are reluctant to leave a good economic story and all the economic indicators on Thailand are looking impressive hence the Baht doing well. Lets hope things will return to normal and surely the Tourists will return in July/Aug.

[tfc]

Phuket seems like a ghost town in some areas at the moment. Funnily the hotels I know that are doing the best are the ones that are part farang owned as they are willing to lower their prices to get people in beds. The one I'm staying in only has 3 free rooms where as literally 2 minutes down the road a similar style hotel but with even less facilities has only one person in it but charges almost double and that person is moving to my place when he's done his time there.

[Thai at Heart]

15 to 20 percent of EMPLOYMENT is very significant. Even if half of those people lose their jobs long term (and that seems probable) that is a very big deal.

There is no way that number can be accurate. They must be counting every single business that a tourist could possible go in to. Like every single restaurant, bar, store, and 7-11 in the country that a foreigner could walk in to.

If you take it from the point of view that 90% of the downtown area of many resorts exist purely to cater to tourists, I find that number completely believable. Add in the high end shops and hotels and Bangkok that derive a large amount of their business from tourists, even more believable. From the woman twiddling her thumbs waiting for a customer to give a foot massage in Pattya to the boiler operator in the Oriental the connections to tourism in this country are very broad.

If the total employment figure for the country is about 37mn, More than believable that there are 7 to 8mn people deriving an income connected to tourism in the country. Don't forget, the reason the service in this place seems so good in comparison with elsewhere is that they can hire maybe 15 waitresses to 1 in the UK for the same cost.

http://www.nationmaster.com/country/th-thailand/lab-labor

Edited May 21, 2010 by Thai at Heart

[Johnny99]

On another note I see where they issued warrants for Thaksin's arrest on terrorism charges and three hours later took them back. That didn't take long. On the other hand they are being fair they are treating him the same as they did the yellow shirt leaders.

As another poster pointed out on a different thread - maybe it's because many countries would be reluctant to cooperate with extradition proceedings involving a fugitive wanted on capital offence charges. He may have a point.

[Thai at Heart]

On another note I see where they issued warrants for Thaksin's arrest on terrorism charges and three hours later took them back. That didn't take long. On the other hand they are being fair they are treating him the same as they did the yellow shirt leaders.

As another poster pointed out on a different thread - maybe it's because many countries would be reluctant to cooperate with extradition proceedings involving a fugitive wanted on capital offence charges. He may have a point.

Or equally likely the owners of Central looked at the small print of their insurance and noticed that 'Acts of Terrorism" aren't covered.

[YangYaiEric]

Maybe devaluate the bath?

Absolutely right there! The Thai Baht is WAY too strong for a country like Thailand. It should be on par with that of the Phillipinnes! I predict a 50% devaluation of the Baht quite soon!

[gemini81]

Maybe devaluate the bath?

Absolutely right there! The Thai Baht is WAY too strong for a country like Thailand. It should be on par with that of the Phillipinnes! I predict a 50% devaluation of the Baht quite soon!

maybe they manipulate the currency, like China does.

Edited May 21, 2010 by gemini81