Crisis In Thai South, Japan To Affect Business Travel

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Crisis in South, Japan to affect business travel

By Suhchat Sritama

The Nation

Business travel from Japan is expected to slow down over six to 12 months due to the nuclear crisis there while domestic travel is expected to drop this month because of the heavy flooding in the South.

Sumate Sudasna, president of the Thailand Incentive and Convention Association, said Japan was one of the major markets for the meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) business here.

Many Japanese working overseas would return to their head offices, while Thais involved in business with Japan would avoid travelling there, he said.

Last year, Thailand welcomed 40,000 business visitors from Japan, who generated Bt10 billion or 20 per cent of the total Bt50 billion in MICE revenue. The number businessmen visiting the country last year was 720,000.

On the other hand, there would be a windfall for the MICE business as three to four events scheduled to take place in Japan in the near future would be shifted here.

The crisis in Japan will also lead to a loss of inbound tourism there, including from Thailand during the school break.

The association is preparing familiarisation trips for event organisers and planners from four countries - Singapore, Korea, Australia and the US.

"These countries are our targets to help restore our MICE business. We will host them during the second half of this year," he said.

Maiyarat Pheerayakoset, president of the Association of Domestic Travel, said domestic tourism is being hurt by the severe floods in many provinces in the South.

Many individual and group tours to the affected provinces have been postponed due to the shortage of transportation.

The Northern region is also suffering from the recent quake and bad weather that is covering many tourist areas.

"If these situations ease up soon, local people should travel during the biggest annual festival, Songkran, next month. If not, tourism in this high season will plunge," he said.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents reported that many foreign vacationers are revising their plans to travel to Thailand this week to avoid the floods.

-- The Nation 2011-04-01