Confidence Of Tourists Will Be Hit By Bomb Blasts: Thailand

[webfact]

Confidence of tourists will be hit by blasts

Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Tourism business operators believe that Tuesday's bomb blasts in Bangkok will have a slight impact on the industry in the current first quarter of the year, according to a survey by the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting (CEBF) of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

However, further incidents would have a longer and larger impact on the economy - especially due to an increase in travel warnings issued by embassies, the number of which could exceed 20. Currently 13 embassies are posting terrorism warning messages in Thailand, said Thanavath Phonvichai, the CEBF's director.

During the current quarter, the number of foreign tourists is expected to drop by 100,000-200,000 and the nation will lose Bt20 billion in tourism revenue, Thanavath said.

However, the situation will begin to rebound in the second and third quarters and the incidents will have a marginal impact on the economy of 0.1-0.2 per cent.

The survey was conducted on Wednesday, with 650 samples from trading, services, and production businesses. Of the total, 42.7 per cent were small businesses, 30.5 per cent medium, and 26.8 per cent large.

According to the survey, 87.2 per cent said the explosions would have some impact on the tourism industry. Of the total, 20 per cent said the impact would be "big", and 37.8 per cent said "medium".

Moreover, 51.1 per cent of the participants said they were not sure how large the impact on their business would be, while 45.7 per cent said they had not yet seen any impact.

When asked about business during the next three months, 76.1 per cent said there would be no impact on the number of local travellers, and 39.1 per cent said the same of foreign tourists. Also, 56.5 per cent believed that the incidents would not result in any tour-package cancellations and also 42.2 per cent said the incident would not affect their earnings.

Thanavath said the issue varied from country to country and included backpackers. For example, he said European tourists realised such incidents can happen anywhere, and this would have a slight impact on the industry. Asian tourists are quite worried, he said.

-- The Nation 2012-02-17

[OzMick]

It seems that tourists, much like sheep, have a short memory span. But I see 20 billion reasons why Middle East visitors are going to face closer scrutiny (Oh No, racial profiling!)

[webfact]

Bombing Incident Feared to Hurt Tourism

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Chamber of Commerce expects the recent Bangkok bombing incident to lower the number of foreign tourists coming to Thailand by 100,000 to 200,000, slashing between five to ten billion baht from the economy.

Director of the Economic and Business Forecast Center at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Thanawat Polwichai has outlined possible impact from the recent bombing incident to the industrial, commerce and service sectors.

Thanawat does not expect the industrial sector to be significantly affected, both in terms of production and export. The commerce sector may see some drop in revenue due to a lower number of customers.

He raised concern over the service sector, especially the tourism industry, that it is likely to suffer the most with between five and ten percent in lost revenue.

He expects the number of tourists in the first quarter to drop by 100,000 to 200,000, slashing between five to ten billion baht from the economy. In any case, he believes that the situation will improve within a month or two if there is no more incident of unrest.

He said the revenue of hotels and resorts is likely to take a hit by 51.1 percent. Tour groups should not cancel their trips as they can divert their programs to the provinces but backpackers may decide against visiting Thailand, particularly if there are follow-up cases of violence in the next three months.

The most important factors affecting tourists' decisions are travel advisories against Thailand issued by foreign governments. As a result, Thanawat is urging the government to rebuild the international community's trust in the country's security as soon as possible by preventing more attacks from taking place.

The center has downgraded its projected economic growth for the first quarter to 1.3 percent from 1.5 percent predicted earlier, due to higher energy and labor costs, as well as continued effects from last year's flood disaster and the blast incident. Nevertheless, he is confident that the economy will pick up gradually from the second quarter onward.

-- Tan Network 2012-02-17

[upena]

No worries. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has already told us that there will be no impact on tourism.

[taff33]

They will still have their millions of tourist coming here,all they need is a sharp pencil.

[Curt1591]

"Downtown Inn, Chiangmai"

[laurentbkk]

on a short term basis yes most probably some people wont come here but in a few months all will be forgotten. ....

[asiawatcher]

Why do Embassies think they need to issue travel warnings? Downtown anywhere in other countries has more incidents than this daily and only makes local news. Stop this stupidity - what a hand grenade thrown by a moron who blew his own legs off? Get a life.

[pogal]

Funny that we hear a different story everyday on Thaivisa, one day no impact next day impact, next day no impact.... yawn...

[khaowong1]

The reason we hear a different story every day, impact-no impact, is because this govt. has it's head up it's ass and has no clue how to handle anything or don't care about anything but money.

[blackthorn2005]

Why do Embassies think they need to issue travel warnings? Downtown anywhere in other countries has more incidents than this daily and only makes local news. Stop this stupidity - what a hand grenade thrown by a moron who blew his own legs off? Get a life.

Cant' you read? Or is your problem more serious than that? I think the guy who threw the grenade is not the only 'moron'!

[manutoo]

Why do Embassies think they need to issue travel warnings? Downtown anywhere in other countries has more incidents than this daily and only makes local news. Stop this stupidity - what a hand grenade thrown by a moron who blew his own legs off? Get a life.

yup, we still have 100 times more chance to die in a road accident, but there's no warning about that...

[sawadeeken]

Funny that we hear a different story everyday on Thaivisa, one day no impact next day impact, next day no impact.... yawn...

You should be sure your brain is in gear before you put your mouth in motion. I find that ThaiVisa passes on a lot of news, and new developments from Thailand and I appreciate them. Much of it is 'of interest' to me personally. You can't (reasonalbly) blame ThaiVisa that the Thai Govt, Thai Officials, Thai Police are changing their stories each time an announcement is made. One article will say: "Thai authorities say there is NO DANGER"........... The next article will say: "Thailand boosts security after Bangkok blasts"

The present Govt.seems to only have interest (or use any energy) in "closing the gate AFTER the cows are out"

You can knock ThaiVisa if you want, but I suggest you read things thouroughly enough to comprehend. Only then will you see the real picture.

If it makes you 'yawn', why do you even waste your time?

[rotary]

I think this event might stick in peoples minds longer than many folks think. This will affect tourist coming to Thailand for sure.

[diehard60]

on a short term basis yes most probably some people wont come here but in a few months all will be forgotten. ....

If it stops now.

[diehard60]

Why do Embassies think they need to issue travel warnings? Downtown anywhere in other countries has more incidents than this daily and only makes local news. Stop this stupidity - what a hand grenade thrown by a moron who blew his own legs off? Get a life.

But it is real! And you don't know if it will get you or not. Right?

[diehard60]

one thing about Terrorists is that you don't know where or when they hit. And you might be in thr wrong spot at the wrong time. The enbassies are just trying to look out for their own people, because most Thai government employees don't care about us. Except for our money. I have friends in the police up here in the northeast who have told me please do not go to Bkk soon.

[maxman71]

Staying alert while in BKK (or anywhere else in LOS) is and has been the order of the day for years. As a matter of practice, I avoid being in close quarters with individuals of certain countries of origin. I do not see it as "racist"; it's statistical. Certain countries tend to produce a higher ratio per capita of people who commit various forms of malfeasance, terrorist acts are just among those items of malfeasance.

Edited February 17, 2012 by maxman71

[Roj]

A knock on effect could be to open would be Jihadists eyes to the fact that their brother Islamists are already engaged in violent conflict with an Infidel enemy in the south of Thailand. The government has said it is friendly with all nations but they fail to realise that radical Islamism is about the furtherance of the muslim religion to the exclusion of others and not about nationalism. I hope the Thai authorities have got their eye on the bigger picture rather than just worry about how they can bury bad news to protect the tourist baht because terrorists, whether they be anti Jewish and sponsored by Iran, or Al Qaeda operatives and its offshoots, don`t pay heed to borders.

[dundee48]

Why do Embassies think they need to issue travel warnings? Downtown anywhere in other countries has more incidents than this daily and only makes local news. Stop this stupidity - what a hand grenade thrown by a moron who blew his own legs off? Get a life.

There is none so blind as those who will not see.

[captspectre]

Why do Embassies think they need to issue travel warnings? Downtown anywhere in other countries has more incidents than this daily and only makes local news. Stop this stupidity - what a hand grenade thrown by a moron who blew his own legs off? Get a life.

This MORON was planning to blow someone else's legs off! you want a life? get next to these terrorist's who don't really care who they kill or maim! look forward to reading about you in the post.

[sparebox2]

We we ban all Iranian tourist, how much would Thailand loose?

A lot. So no way can be ban Iranian, they are a big tipper.

[jboras]

Maybe they should also ask those planning to travel to Thailand. My wife just cancelled our trip for school holidays which fall on Songkran. She is Thai! We live in Australia.

Had a call from a business colleague who also cancelled his buying trip to Thailand he is from Europe!

So news do reach the world and it does impact poor little old Thailand's business and tourism!

Edited February 18, 2012 by jboras

[pogal]

Funny that we hear a different story everyday on Thaivisa, one day no impact next day impact, next day no impact.... yawn...

You should be sure your brain is in gear before you put your mouth in motion. I find that ThaiVisa passes on a lot of news, and new developments from Thailand and I appreciate them. Much of it is 'of interest' to me personally. You can't (reasonalbly) blame ThaiVisa that the Thai Govt, Thai Officials, Thai Police are changing their stories each time an announcement is made. One article will say: "Thai authorities say there is NO DANGER"........... The next article will say: "Thailand boosts security after Bangkok blasts"

The present Govt.seems to only have interest (or use any energy) in "closing the gate AFTER the cows are out"

You can knock ThaiVisa if you want, but I suggest you read things thouroughly enough to comprehend. Only then will you see the real picture.

If it makes you 'yawn', why do you even waste your time?

Wasn't actually blaming Thaivisa, I DO understand that Thaivisa gets its news from many sources and is not a news agency. I was talking about the news itself (which happens to be on Thaivisa) and totally agree its the sources, government, etc that make it like this.

I think perhaps you are a little oversensitive and misunderstood my statement but thank you for the nice comment anyway:)

[chrisinth]

Funny that we hear a different story everyday on Thaivisa, one day no impact next day impact, next day no impact.... yawn...

ThaiVisa is a forum that is relaying stories from the media so that people can comment on them (rightly or wrongly). ThaiVisa isn't responsible for the news

EDIT: Sorry Pogal, didn't read far enough down the thread

Edited February 19, 2012 by chrisinth

[Jingthing]

We we ban all Iranian tourist, how much would Thailand loose?

A lot. So no way can be ban Iranian, they are a big tipper.

The numbers of Iranian tourists has caved massively recently without any travel ban anyway. The reason is the impact of international sanctions on the value of their currency. Now the west is about to restrict SWIFT transfers from Iranian banks. Iranian oriented businesses here are really hurting.

[blows]

I guess tourists aren't dying to see Bangkok.

[samuidreams]

Terrorism, explosions, accidents etc can happen anywhere in the world. I don't think an attack should put anybody off travelling, the people behind attacks thrive on installing fear into the world. We should carry on with our lives and be vigilant.

[blows]

Terrorism, explosions, accidents etc can happen anywhere in the world. I don't think an attack should put anybody off travelling, the people behind attacks thrive on installing fear into the world. We should carry on with our lives and be vigilant.

Tourism is virtually non-existent in all the newly liberated arab spring countries. Tourists have lots of choices, it's a big world. Only adventure tourists go where there is a chance of death, and there aren't many of them. I think the Thai tourist numbers have fallen to the point of their GDP, that Thailand may not care as much as they once did. They still care, just not as much. The same probably goes for the expats living in Thailand.

[pogal]

Funny that we hear a different story everyday on Thaivisa, one day no impact next day impact, next day no impact.... yawn...

ThaiVisa is a forum that is relaying stories from the media so that people can comment on them (rightly or wrongly). ThaiVisa isn't responsible for the news

EDIT: Sorry Pogal, didn't read far enough down the thread

Not a problem good sir, I should word my words more carefully next time to avoid any misunderstanding:)