International And Thai Tourism Bodies Call For Aggressive Crisis Response: Flood

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TOURISM

Tourism bodies call for aggressive crisis response

Watchiranont Thongtep

The Nation

International and local tourism organisations have urged the government to engage in more aggressive crisis management during the floods crisis, as delayed communication has contributed to business losses in the tourism sector.

The issue was addressed yesterday during the quarterly luncheon meeting hosted by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Thailand Chapter.

More than 100 tourism professionals gathered to brainstorm on the impacts of the crisis and ways to rebuild the industry after the flood waters recede.

Though many tourism operators blamed international and local media for shaping confused information for foreign tourists, notably the pictures of aircraft under water at Don Mueang Airport, they urged government bodes related to the sector to be more aggressive in their communication.

They cited Airports of Thailand and the Transport Ministry in particular, as they are responsible both for the flood-affected Don Mueang Airport and the unaffected Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Kusa Panyarachun, the 93-year-old founder of the PATA Thailand Chapter and now managing director of World Travel Service, the oldest travel agency in the Kingdom, said that in such a crisis, the best spokesperson communicating to the world should be the prime minister, while tourism-related government agencies and organisations were supposed to work together as a crisis-management centre to deliver a single message.

PATA chief executive officer Martin J Craigs said the crisis-management team should be using new communication technology and speedy communication through all media channels, especially social media.

Luzi A Matzig, chief executive officer of Asian Trails, suggested that to minimise business losses, the Foreign Ministry should use diplomatic channels to communicate with those countries that issued travel advisories against visditing Bangkok, and seek to convince them to lift the advisories as soon as possible.

"During this unavoidable crisis, we are doing our best to ensure a collective effort as well as to recruit help from every part of the tourism industry in order to cope with the crisis," said Suraphon Svetasreni, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

According to the TAT, the sector has suffered about Bt70 billion in overall damage and lost business due to the floods.

However, there is hope for tourism business as the sector is likely to recover quickly, as was the case following the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport in 2008, the outbreak of avian flu in 2009 and the political unrest of last year, said Hanah R Messerli, senior private sector development specialist and tourism finance expert at the World Bank.

-- The Nation 2011-11-24

[ginjag]

Of the millions of things that come to mind, your national airline Thai who has grounded flights due to the floods ??

1 get them in the air again, especially to Europe, and offer huge reduced fares on return tickets.

2 domestic fares to apply also. standing aircraft lose money.

3 get back your reputation, here is your chance.

4 hotels dont put up your prices, retain your staff give gigantic reductions on rooms.

5 TAT get your fingers out and stop spewing figures out at random every month giving false info re--tourists coming or not coming. quit the buls#it and re organise your management, there is clearly something wrong there.

6 TAT get to your resorts and stamp out the corrupt practices of tuk tuks-jet ski-mini bus-two tier pricing at parks, and last of all the blatant racist holiday promotions-advertised in national newspapers on special offer/package holidays---FOR THAI persons only...............disgusting to say the least, way out of order.

[rucus7]

If I did not live in Thailand, would I visit now? Not a chance. The flood waters have not dissipated yet. What's the rush ? Is it only about revenue generated by vacationing tourists? Who cares if the tourist enjoy their visit as long as they spend money.

Two thirds of Thailand may have had no floods, however the mood of the Country is not business as usual. All of Thailand has been effected whether underwater or not. Sometimes the greed of the tourist industry is transparent.

[janderton]

...all the blatant racist holiday promotions-advertised in national newspapers on special offer/package holidays---FOR THAI persons only...............

which newspapers?

[moe666]

If I did not live in Thailand, would I visit now? Not a chance. The flood waters have not dissipated yet. What's the rush ? Is it only about revenue generated by vacationing tourists? Who cares if the tourist enjoy their visit as long as they spend money.

Two thirds of Thailand may have had no floods, however the mood of the Country is not business as usual. All of Thailand has been effected whether underwater or not. Sometimes the greed of the tourist industry is transparent.

well they can come to Chiang mai as they are open for business here and no affecr even though we had a flood here a while back.

[Mooner]

If I did not live in Thailand, would I visit now? Not a chance. The flood waters have not dissipated yet. What's the rush ? Is it only about revenue generated by vacationing tourists? Who cares if the tourist enjoy their visit as long as they spend money.

Two thirds of Thailand may have had no floods, however the mood of the Country is not business as usual. All of Thailand has been effected whether underwater or not. Sometimes the greed of the tourist industry is transparent.

well they can come to Chiang mai as they are open for business here and no affecr even though we had a flood here a while back.

In Bkk now. The tourist areas are not affected.

[animatic]

They are panicking about salvaging High Season in the 60% of Thailand NOT affected by the flood significantly.

Certainly the best spokesperson under normal conditions should be the prime minister, but that was one too many apples for this cart.

Lean on other embassies to not say there is a disaster... smooth! TAT actually giving good travel advice based on facts would be a first step in getting embassies to actually understand the situation.

Yes here is quite bad, don't go there till later,

HERE IS PERFECTLY FINE AND GREAT DEALS TO BE HAD.

Yes, you can get there and all normal services are in affect.

And there will be many very grateful Thais there to serve you,

and thank profusely for visiting.

etc etc.

The south is fine the far north too. getting there is not a hardship.

Please come and we've lowered prices so it's a great deal this year.

Etc.

Edited November 24, 2011 by animatic

[peecee]

If I did not live in Thailand, would I visit now? Not a chance. The flood waters have not dissipated yet. What's the rush ? Is it only about revenue generated by vacationing tourists? Who cares if the tourist enjoy their visit as long as they spend money.

Two thirds of Thailand may have had no floods, however the mood of the Country is not business as usual. All of Thailand has been effected whether underwater or not. Sometimes the greed of the tourist industry is transparent.

well they can come to Chiang mai as they are open for business here and no affecr even though we had a flood here a while back.

In Bkk now. The tourist areas are not affected.

Flooding @ fish farm's though, keep prawn's off the menu for a bit!

[stickyrice2000]

I personally would not go to Thailand at this time even though there are several dry places. They can advertise all they want. The country is still having hardship. In addition, I would be cautious using their water and eating their foods. Visiting Thailand is not a necessity. I can wait until the flood water completely receded, trashes being cleaned up, businesses and lives operated as normal, water being treated, etc. I am sure that I am not the only one thinking this way.

[whybother]

Of the millions of things that come to mind, your national airline Thai who has grounded flights due to the floods ??

1 get them in the air again, especially to Europe, and offer huge reduced fares on return tickets.

2 domestic fares to apply also. standing aircraft lose money.

3 get back your reputation, here is your chance.

4 hotels dont put up your prices, retain your staff give gigantic reductions on rooms.

5 TAT get your fingers out and stop spewing figures out at random every month giving false info re--tourists coming or not coming. quit the buls#it and re organise your management, there is clearly something wrong there.

6 TAT get to your resorts and stamp out the corrupt practices of tuk tuks-jet ski-mini bus-two tier pricing at parks, and last of all the blatant racist holiday promotions-advertised in national newspapers on special offer/package holidays---FOR THAI persons only...............disgusting to say the least, way out of order.

Thai airways (and lots of other airlines) has grounded flights due to lack of people wanting to fly.

I agree with the gist of your post though.

[ginjag]

...all the blatant racist holiday promotions-advertised in national newspapers on special offer/package holidays---FOR THAI persons only...............

which newspapers?

Especially the newspaper we cannot quote from, under classified section, tours/air tickets.

And they complain about tourism suffering...TIT..is now a joke. Where on earth is the mentality ??????? this practice has been on the go for years, but now it is more obvious.

Edited November 25, 2011 by ginjag

[ginjag]

Of the millions of things that come to mind, your national airline Thai who has grounded flights due to the floods ??

1 get them in the air again, especially to Europe, and offer huge reduced fares on return tickets.

2 domestic fares to apply also. standing aircraft lose money.

3 get back your reputation, here is your chance.

4 hotels dont put up your prices, retain your staff give gigantic reductions on rooms.

5 TAT get your fingers out and stop spewing figures out at random every month giving false info re--tourists coming or not coming. quit the buls#it and re organise your management, there is clearly something wrong there.

6 TAT get to your resorts and stamp out the corrupt practices of tuk tuks-jet ski-mini bus-two tier pricing at parks, and last of all the blatant racist holiday promotions-advertised in national newspapers on special offer/package holidays---FOR THAI persons only...............disgusting to say the least, way out of order.

Thai airways (and lots of other airlines) has grounded flights due to lack of people wanting to fly.

I agree with the gist of your post though.

The lack of people wanting to fly===agreed, but why ???? I picked out the floods as a reason as it was one of our topics, but as I said one of the millions of reasons why they are not flying.

all over the world tourism is being hit, but these so called tourism authorities are in the clouds, especially here. if you have troubles you direct tourists away from them to non troubled areas, What are they doing here--the same things they have always done (apart from a few genuine offers) the non troubled areas tourists are still being ripped off, many places are still rubbish tips, and now the authorities have time to clean up their act--NO way -they are using it as a lazy period and await the next explosion of tourists that will arrive SOON ???