Bird Flu Blamed For Tourism Fall

[george]

Bird flu blamed for tourism fall

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Hotels Association believes that tourist arrivals in the country will not reach estimates of 13.48 million, set earlier this year, because of fresh outbreaks of bird flu in several Asian markets, including China.

The association’s deputy president Prakit Chinamourpong said outbreaks of the disease troubled the tourist industry during October and November, when tourists from China and neighbouring countries postponed trips to Thailand.

As a result, the Thai Hotels Association (THA) estimates that total tourist arrivals will reach only 11.6 million this year – 1.88 million lower than official projections by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT.)

“Looking at Pattaya, which is one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists, there has been a slowdown from October till mid-November, with average hotel occupancy rates down to 63 per cent,” Prakit said.

Overall, however, the hotel business is expected to recover next year thanks to the opening of the new Suvarnnabhumi Airport, the Chiang Mai Night Safari and the luxury shopping mall, Siam Paragon, in Bangkok.

Breaking the latest hotel occupancy rates down into regions, the THA said the average occupancy rate in the South was 50 per cent, in the North 68 per cent, Bangkok 72 per cent and the West between 80 per cent and 90 per cent. Figures for the Northeast are not yet available.

“THA hopes that next year, the tourism industry will remain the same – not too bad for operators,” Prakit said. To attract more international visitors, the THA plans to travel more to China, Australia and Europe.

THA and TAT have jointly sponsored many tourism events this year, including the World Travel Mart in the UK at beginning of this month.

--The Nation 2005-11-30

[tuky]

I have to admit that we have been to several seminars at my workplace to talk about the bird flu, I cannot disagree that the hype will not scare tourists away. Several family members are coming to visit me in January and they keep asking me what the situation is so they can confirm their bookings.

SHame, as whatever wil be wil be as far as I am cioncerned.

How about you? what do you think?

[llewynx]

I'm in Sweden at the moment and there's more of a birdflu scare here than in Thailand it seems like. The newspapers (tabloids) have articles about "how to protect your family" etc, which is not axactly helping the tourism situation in Asia. People demand that stocks of Tamiflu should be made available. Considering how many people have been infected with birdflu (and how they got it), it seems more sensible to warn people about, say, malaria, but I guess that doesn't sell as many copies...

[tuky]

am I right to say that the Thai government put a ban on liberal sales of Tamiflu in the last few months?

Anyway, prevention is always better than cure.

It will be interesting to se how this plays out.

[Camelot]

You are. Tamiflu stocks are carefully controlled and only available to infectious disease specialists in hospitals throughout the country. If you see anything in a drugstore it is almost certainly fake.

That makes sense because Tamiflu is not a vaccine.

[cclub75]

Hum... too bad. It must a disapointment for the people who wanted a "shift" in the thai tourism's paradigm.... "Good asian tourists".

Looks like they are going to -once again- rely on the good old western tourists... Less in number but who are not scared about ghosts or bird flu... But of course, to succeed, they will have to take care...

Casinos, and party all night long ? Ah it must be a pretty hard job to work in the government.

[lopburi3]

You are. Tamil stocks are carefully controlled and only available to infectious disease specialists in hospitals throughout the country. If you see anything in a drugstore it is almost certainly fake.

That makes sense because Tamil is not a vaccine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is not completely true. Tamiflu was and is used as a preventative drug against flu of all kinds - not just as a treatment (just as many malaria drugs are used for both). I do agree that it does make sense not to use it now however, except for treatment.

Edited November 30, 2005 by lopburi3