Coup impact on tourism - 5% INCREASE from Europe

[MrWorldwide]

http://www.dw.de/thailands-unrest-puts-dent-in-tourism/a-17797311

Yep, nothing like heading out to Dusseldorf Airport for a fact-finding expedition, but it's no worse than some of the 'journalism' coming out of Oz atm. His figures come straight from our friends at TAT, but it's an interesting spin nonetheless - turning a 10 point loss for Thailand into a 5 point win for Europe

No idea if TAT includes the UK in their 'Europe' estimates, but these were the raw numbers in 2013 - clearly a 10% drop 'elsewhere' is a major dent in bums-on-seats from Thailand's neighbours and countries like the US and Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand#Top_20_Most_visiting_nationalities

No mention of the visa crackdown, but I guess that's not something you'd mention in a puff piece clearly designed to reassure Europeans that its OK to get on a plane to Bangkok or Phuket. I did check for this in the News section, but it didnt appear to be there - possibly not terribly newsworthy - in any case, I have to hand it to TAT for making the best of a couple of fairly rough months. Note that the WTCC figure of 20% of GDP is the overall flow-on impact figure - direct income is 7% of GDP per TAT's own stats and that is totally dwarfed by Thailand's agricultural and industrial exports. The other very obvious point about any stats is that they are usually published quarterly - the July-September quarter will give us a much better picture of the impact of the visa crackdown although I doubt that it would have impacted either of the families impacted in this hard-hitting piece of Pulitzer-worthy journalism. Nothing like basing your editorial on interviews with two family groups at a single airport ..... I'm not taking this advertorial too seriously but I know it will fire up a few of the hardcases who are convinced that Thailand is about to fall on its own sword. Som nam na, ladies - see you in October

These anecdotal examples appear to confirm Tourism Authority of Thailand statistics. After a slight decline in the number of visitors from Europe at the height of the crisis in early 2014, they are now even 5 percent higher than last year. However, if not just Europe but the whole world is taken into account, there is a decline of just over 10 percent.

Supranee Pongpat, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Germany, says it is absolutely safe to travel to Thailand. "I just came back from Thailand and the situation is completely normal." Asked about the political situation and the military, she said: "I would like to correct the image in the West about the military in Thailand. The military is friendly to people, including tourists. It has taken power peacefully to resolve the political unrest and the conflicts."