Thailand Tourism Seen Unaffected By Sunday's Blast

[webfact]

Tourism Seen Unaffected by Sunday's Blast

The Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor believes that in overall, the tourism industry will not be affected by Sunday's blast in central Bangkok.

He predicted the number of tourists visiting Thailand this year will be in the range of 14.5 to 15 million as long as there is no more violence.

TAT Deputy Governor for policy and planning Udom Metatamrongsiri said the bomb blast at the bus stop in front of the Big C Ratchadamri store on Sunday will not impact the tourism industry due to a campaign to inform the international community that the situation in Thailand is under control.

Udom added that provided there is more violence in the future, the tourism industry will continuously expand through the rest of this year.

TAT will hold a meeting to evaluate the state of the tourism industry either next week or after.

Udom said enforcement of the emergency decree negatively impacts the tourism industry and lifting it will improve the tourism climate and boost the number of inbound travelers as tourists from China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong are sensitive to safety issues.

He predicted that the number of tourists coming to Thailand will be in the range of 14.5 to 15 million, bringing in 550 billion baht in revenue as long as there is no future violence.

The number of tourists coming to Thailand next year is expected at 15.5 to 16 million and revenue from tourism is expected to reach 600 billion baht.

In a related development, Kasikorn Bank SME Business Division Executive Vice President Pakorn Partanapaet said the tourism industry will recover during the high season near the end of this year as Thailand is known to be one of the most popular destinations for tourists in the world and traveling to Thailand is a good value.

Pakorn predicted that the Thai economy will grow by 7 percent this year thanks to many positive factors, including growth in export of electronic products, automobiles and agricultural products.

The other factor that will help the Thai economy grow is the Strong Thailand economic stimulus initiative, which creates jobs and encourages domestic consumption.

-- Tan Network 2010-07-29

[Ulysses G.]

Nice headline. The scumbags that did it will just try to kill more people next time.

[dom samui]

He predicted...

The Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor believes that....

will not impact the tourism industry due to a campaign to inform the international community that the situation in Thailand is under control...

provided there is more violence in the future, the tourism industry will continuously expand through the rest of this year...

traveling to Thailand is a good value...

Two great cristal balls between the legs or What??? Please Take care or them when you walk !

[Just1Voice]

I love these optimistic predictions on tourism! They always give me a good laugh.

Of course, they never take into consideration that there are now a number of major hotels in Chiang Mai that are closing down and are up for sale because of no tourists, and no reservations for them in the immediate future, such a the upcoming "high season". I personally know of 2 major hotels in C.M. that are situated near the Kad Suen Kaew Mall that are in serious trouble. One finally closed down a few months ago, and the second one has close down one of their two wings, and still can't manage to pay their light bill, or their employees, and will soon follow suit in closing their doors.

Nor do they take into consideration the report the other day by the hotel association that reported that reservations for the upcoming "high season" in Bangkok, Phukett and Pattaya, as well as other places, have dropped from 70% occupancy reservations to less than 40% for the same time last year.

Yeah, keep those predictions coming and never mind reality.

[webfact]

Foreign tourists regain confidence after political unrest ceases

BANGKOK (NNT) -- Foreign tourists have regained confidence after the political turmoil has ceased while the total number of visitors has risen compared to last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

In the first half of this year, the total number of foreign tourists traveling to Thailand stands at 7.5 million. Out of this number, 3.6 million are East Asians, while the rest are from Europe, South Asia, and the US. The figure which has increased by 13.7% compared to last year can reflect the level of confidence especially among the Asian and the European travelers which account for almost 80% of the total. The estimated income expected to be generated from tourism this year is about 272 billion THB.

Although the number of visitors in May has fallen by 12.93% due to the political unrest, it can immediately recover to only 1.14% decrease within one month after the rally has dispersed. The majority of tourists chose to travel directly to other provinces to avoid the situation in Bangkok.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects the number of visitors to reach 15.34 million this year as a result of tourism promotion campaign.

-- NNT 2010-07-29

[doggie888888]

Personally, I prefer to holiday in places where there is the added excitement of bombs going off amidst a state of emergency. Better still, the total unpredictability of these random bombs will keep me on a state of heightened of anxiety whenever I venture out of my hotel room , combined with the possibility of another riot or civil unrest or airport closure...it really makes for a very exciting holiday.

[dumball]

The state of Thai tourism reminds me of an old adage_______HORSE_______BOLT_____GATE_____CLOSE___but please watch his ass does not get caught . When will these people start to wear the red noses they are assuredly entitled to ??

[dom samui]

The Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor :

number of tourists coming to Thailand will be in the range of 14.5 to 15 million, bringing in 550 billion baht in revenue.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports :

the estimated income expected to be generated from tourism this year is about 272 billion THB.

Do they work for the same country?

[dumball]

I think a better or more apropriate question would be "Do they work?" Does any poster know if there is a Thai equivilant of the English 'Co-ordination' , the use of that one word would at least give these 'Boffins' some form of credibility , as it is , they constantly come up with more BS than a herd of cows could produce in a month , complete with the methane which inflates thier egos .

[Just1Voice]

You have to remember that Ministers, and Deputy Ministers are NOT given those positions due to their knowledge of them, or any form of intelligence, but merely on their political connections and "backhanders". Actual "job skills" and "intelligence" have absolutely no bearing whatsoever.

[jayjay0]

You People are missing one important point. The people posting these every thing is fine things also believe in Santa Claus.

I live in Chiang Mai and have nor want a vehicle. So I have to depend on Song tow's and tuk tuk's to go very far. I have noticed there is a marked decline in the number of tuk tuk's. Up until two months ago I would walk out of my hotel and there would be three tuk tuk"s there, now there is one and that is only about a third of the time.

Tourist's not expats and Thai's are a huge part of there income and without the tourists they can not operate. I live in the Night Bazaar area and have for four years. It is fast loosing sellers. There are times when you can shoot a shot gun down it and only hit the sellers.Time was when I had to muscle my way through it. Not to place blame or say what is right or wrong but the simple fact is ever since the airport closures the business has been going down here in the night bazaar in Chiang Mai.

The time has come for the government to face the problem and stop saying it is getting better. This is not a slam against Abhist if Thaksin was to come back and become PR the problem would still be the same. The Government must work to improve the situation. Stop denying it.

Edited July 29, 2010 by jayjay0

[chrislarsson]

The Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor :

number of tourists coming to Thailand will be in the range of 14.5 to 15 million, bringing in 550 billion baht in revenue.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports :

the estimated income expected to be generated from tourism this year is about 272 billion THB.

Do they work for the same country?

The GDP of Thailand is roughly 10.000 billion baht. If tourism accounts for 6% of GDP, that makes its size about 600 billion baht.

[TallForeigner]

Let's listen what professionals and not politicians have to say here (excerpts from other newspapers):

"The bombing in front of Big C on Ratchadamri Road on Sunday had affected the confidence of foreign investors and tourists, Bantoon Lamsam, CEO and president of Kasikornbank Plc, said on Wednesday."

"Thailand's tourism recovery will be delayed further to the second half of 2011 as Sunday's explosion near the Big C Ratchadamri store in Bangkok has sparked new concern about political problems, according to the Thai Hotels Association (THA)."

"It's difficult to see Thai tourism back to normal in the fourth quarter of this year or even in the first half of 2011 because international tourists aren't confident enough to travel to Thailand,'' he said.

"Many countries are still maintaining their travel advisory warnings about coming to Thailand though the degree of warnings has been softened.''

"European tourists, who usually plan trips four to six months in advance, will shift to other destinations, he said. At present, the number of room bookings for the coming high season (October to January) is estimated at around 40% of hotels' capacity, compared to 70-75% during normal periods."

What country are those ministers talking about??

[asiawatcher]

What ? They figured this out within 5 days that it will not impact tourism? Yeah right - more PR BS.

[nikster]

You People are missing one important point. The people posting these every thing is fine things also believe in Santa Claus.

I live in Chiang Mai and have nor want a vehicle. So I have to depend on Song tow's and tuk tuk's to go very far. I have noticed there is a marked decline in the number of tuk tuk's. Up until two months ago I would walk out of my hotel and there would be three tuk tuk"s there, now there is one and that is only about a third of the time.

Tourist's not expats and Thai's are a huge part of there income and without the tourists they can not operate. I live in the Night Bazaar area and have for four years. It is fast loosing sellers. There are times when you can shoot a shot gun down it and only hit the sellers.Time was when I had to muscle my way through it. Not to place blame or say what is right or wrong but the simple fact is ever since the airport closures the business has been going down here in the night bazaar in Chiang Mai.

The time has come for the government to face the problem and stop saying it is getting better. This is not a slam against Abhist if Thaksin was to come back and become PR the problem would still be the same. The Government must work to improve the situation. Stop denying it.

I can confirm there are pretty much no tourists in Chiang Mai. But it's not really the high season yet. There are many reasons of course - recession and high flight prices are amongst them, the red protests in BKK made many people cancel their trips and this will still be very much felt now, and travel warnings and a state of emergency. So all in all - I am surprised at the tourists that are here, not surprised everything is dead quiet. What do you expect? If I have 3 weeks vacation a year I might not exactly travel to a country that's under a state of emergency.

Expats living here know that it's all fine in day to day life, but how are you going to know this from afar. In addition, there is a real risk that things turn bad again.

I am optimistic on the long term prospects of Thailand's tourism too. As long as Thailand can stay out of the headlines. People have a very short attention span. The stuff that makes the evening news is of great concern to them - until tomorrow, when there's something else on the TV, and they get really concerned about that (and forget all about yesterday).

Once the state of emergency and travel warnings are lifted, tourists will start streaming in again. The govt's only concern is that the reds will cause trouble again and it all starts all over again. The reds can keep this country down. And the govt too of course, by giving the reds new reasons to rise up... I don't know why they haven't called new elections yet.

[march]

Went through the airport 4 times in the last 14 days at a variety of times and days, (eg. late afternoon Monday, late night Friday) and passenger traffic at all times seemed definitely heavier than often seen with large numbers of obvious tourists flying both domestic and international.

[Ulysses G.]

[i can confirm there are pretty much no tourists in Chiang Mai.

The last month has picked up a lot tourist-wise and every business that I frequent says so.

Is it as good as past years? No, but considerably better than June.

[Piengrudee]

In fact, the blast increase tourist arrivals numbers.

[jayjay0]

[i can confirm there are pretty much no tourists in Chiang Mai.

The last month has picked up a lot tourist-wise and every business that I frequent says so.

Is it as good as past years? No, but considerably better than June.

I have to agree with you on that point. But where are they coming from. There seems to be a huge increase in the number of Moslems here. I was told there is a reason they travel at this time of the year. If one would look at what is going on in other parts of the world one would come quickly to realize that one bomb is of no concern to them.

I in no way mean to bash them but there is reasons for them being here.

In my earlier post I was not cherry picking certain times. These people who have lost there tuk tuk's have done it as a result of a extended period of time. I asked one of the drivers why he was not there in the morning he said he had a two hour job to do in the morning. This is a real problem and ignoring it will not send it away.

And yes i realize it is the low season but I have been here through four of them and none of them were as bad as this one.

[Just1Voice]

In fact, the blast increase tourist arrivals numbers.

I am totally speechless at this comment.

[dom samui]

In fact, the blast increase tourist arrivals numbers.

Thailand, new hub of grudeetude !

More seriously OF COURSE, MY HORSE!

lets make it like this : Blind people burning news :Thailand Tourism Seen Unaffected By Sunday's Blast.

[laocowboy2]

Foreign tourists regain confidence after political unrest ceases

BANGKOK (NNT) -- Foreign tourists have regained confidence after the political turmoil has ceased while the total number of visitors has risen compared to last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

In the first half of this year, the total number of foreign tourists traveling to Thailand stands at 7.5 million. Out of this number, 3.6 million are East Asians, while the rest are from Europe, South Asia, and the US. The figure which has increased by 13.7% compared to last year can reflect the level of confidence especially among the Asian and the European travelers which account for almost 80% of the total. The estimated income expected to be generated from tourism this year is about 272 billion THB.

Although the number of visitors in May has fallen by 12.93% due to the political unrest, it can immediately recover to only 1.14% decrease within one month after the rally has dispersed. The majority of tourists chose to travel directly to other provinces to avoid the situation in Bangkok.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects the number of visitors to reach 15.34 million this year as a result of tourism promotion campaign.

-- NNT 2010-07-29

Some numbers from the Ministry's own website. I looked them up after the "big increase in H1" stories came out. While the stories were true in the strict sense, it is only beause 2009 was such a bad year.

Thus: -

H1 2008 7.88mn

H1 2009 6.91mn

H1 2010 7.52mn

So 2010 so far is down on 2008. The total for full year 2008 is 14.32mn so the optimistic forecast of 14.5mn is essentially flat to 2008.

In the meantime many more hotels have opened, new resorts have been developed etc etc.

Bad year for tourism this year, and I fear also in 2011.

[laocowboy2]

[i can confirm there are pretty much no tourists in Chiang Mai.

The last month has picked up a lot tourist-wise and every business that I frequent says so.

Is it as good as past years? No, but considerably better than June.

I have to agree with you on that point. But where are they coming from. There seems to be a huge increase in the number of Moslems here. I was told there is a reason they travel at this time of the year. If one would look at what is going on in other parts of the world one would come quickly to realize that one bomb is of no concern to them.

I in no way mean to bash them but there is reasons for them being here.

In my earlier post I was not cherry picking certain times. These people who have lost there tuk tuk's have done it as a result of a extended period of time. I asked one of the drivers why he was not there in the morning he said he had a two hour job to do in the morning. This is a real problem and ignoring it will not send it away.

And yes i realize it is the low season but I have been here through four of them and none of them were as bad as this one.

Visitors from the Middle East essentially means those from the six GCC countries. They travel (a) during school holidays - which run over most of the summer months due to the heat and ( for medical treatment - Bumrungrad has halal kitchens, Arabic speaking staff and prices half of those in Europe. Numbers are up by over 20% this year but from a low base. They are more noticeable due to dress - if 100,000 Chinese rocked up in Bangkok, would we really notice the difference?

[barrella]

Wild number guessing here, we was up about 70% like by like on last year up until the reds, now as of yesterday we are about on par with last years numbers, day on day. Does this mean we are up down or the same compared to where we should be? who knows. All I know is yes, Bangkok feels down on tourist numbers but not dead yet.

We are working on some new marketing strategies and opening new sites before high season this year, we was looking at doing this Just after Thai New Year and of course pulled back.

As I am a retailer at heart I always like to use the Burgernomics as a good benchmark for currencies due to the global Mcdollar and this years numbers show the Thai Baht is undervalued.

The Economist Burgernomics

Fingers crossed for us all for a great High Season 2010.

Edited July 29, 2010 by barrella

[elibangkok]

Visitors from the Middle East essentially means those from the six GCC countries. They travel (a) during school holidays - which run over most of the summer months due to the heat and ( for medical treatment - Bumrungrad has halal kitchens, Arabic speaking staff and prices half of those in Europe. Numbers are up by over 20% this year but from a low base. They are more noticeable due to dress - if 100,000 Chinese rocked up in Bangkok, would we really notice the difference?

I think you have a point on their being more noticable, although I have to say I visited Safari World last weekend and it there were two large tour groups from India and one group from the Middle East. There were no European or American groups.

Obviously this is anecdotal, but I would be more interested to know actual tourism baht spent as opposed to total visitors.

[Ulysses G.]

And yes i realize it is the low season but I have been here through four of them and none of them were as bad as this one.

I concur with that!

[otherstuff1957]

I do occasional work for the BMA & TAT. Their statistics show that the middle-east is the most rapidly growing segment of the Thai tourist industry. The only problem is that they usually don't spend as much as the average European/American.

[jayjay0]

Visitors from the Middle East essentially means those from the six GCC countries. They travel (a) during school holidays - which run over most of the summer months due to the heat and ( for medical treatment - Bumrungrad has halal kitchens, Arabic speaking staff and prices half of those in Europe. Numbers are up by over 20% this year but from a low base. They are more noticeable due to dress - if 100,000 Chinese rocked up in Bangkok, would we really notice the difference?

I think you have a point on their being more noticable, although I have to say I visited Safari World last weekend and it there were two large tour groups from India and one group from the Middle East. There were no European or American groups.

Obviously this is anecdotal, but I would be more interested to know actual tourism baht spent as opposed to total visitors.

I would like to know what percent of the population is affected by the tourist dollar. They say it is six percent of the GNP but I would be willing to bet it directly effects a lot more than 6%

[moe666]

In fact, the blast increase tourist arrivals numbers.

Huh!!!!!!!

[moe666]

I do occasional work for the BMA & TAT. Their statistics show that the middle-east is the most rapidly growing segment of the Thai tourist industry. The only problem is that they usually don't spend as much as the average European/American.

And Thais will tell you they donot like Arabs.