BKKSTAN wrote:

trubrit wrote:

arjay wrote:

We may soon be the only ones on the tourist beaches.

Wouldn't that be nice.?

It would be fantastic

Political unrest takes its toll on tourist industry

Published on April 11, 2009

A Japanese tour group has cancelled a 300-room booking in Bangkok out of concern about political instability.

Leading tourism-business operators fear more cancellations, especially now that 14 countries have issued travel warnings for Thailand.

Thai Hotels Association president Prakit Chinamourphong said his group was gathering information on possible cancellations at all hotels nationwide after the Japanese group cancelled its reservation at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 22 for next month. The number of foreign tourists for Songkran is expected to be down 30-40 per cent from last year.

"What's more worrying is we plan to welcome 50,000 Chinese tourists for May Day plus other visitors attending meetings slated for later this year," he said.

Some 6,000 delegates are scheduled to travel here for a medical and nutrition conference and more than 20,000 for a Lion's Club function.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan had advised their citizens to avoid areas where protesters were gathering. Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Singapore have also alerted their citizens to potential risks.

TAT executives held an urgent meeting yesterday and reopened their "war room" to update foreign tourists about the political situation. Offices abroad have been asked to summarise the impact on foreign markets every two days for the tourism and sports minister.

Pensuda Praiaram, deputy governor for administration, admitted the chaos would lead to a lower number of Songkran revellers in the greater Bangkok area, against earlier expectations of a 30- to 40-per-cent increase. However, upcountry celebrations may not be affected.

Advance bookings for hotels on Khao San Road, a major destination for Songkran revellers, is down to 20 per cent of capacity, from 95 per cent before the rally. Some 200,000 are expected to spend Bt300 million there.

Association of Thai Travel Agents president Apichart Sankary said most foreign tourists had now cancelled Bangkok city tours and would head upcountry instead. This will lead to a loss of Bt6 million a day for the city's tourism business. Some 5,000 foreign tourists are expected to take Bangkok tours on each of the three Songkran days, down from 10,000 in the previous years. The tours costs Bt1,200 per head per day.

Prakit said that with the number of foreign guests declining, hotels across the nation had been closing their restaurants temporarily since early this month, but they are hopeful the situation will improve after the long holiday. and allow them to resume normal operations.

The State Department warned citizens visiting Thailand that "demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence."

"American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations and to exercise caution anywhere in Bangkok," it said in a message to US travelers.

By: BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA
Published: 22/04/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business

Two Chinese carriers - Shanghai Airlines and China Eastern Airlines - have abruptly suspended their plans to operate non-stop flights between Shanghai and Phuket due to the political mayhem in Thailand.

The indefinite suspension deals a blow to the tourism industry in the Thai southern island resort, which has just started recovering from the impacts of Bangkok airport seizures late last year while battling the global economic recession.

Shanghai Airlines had earlier planned to initially offer three flights a week to Phuket on a charter basis starting from April 30 before upgrading the services to regular scheduled flights.

Shanghai used to operate flights to Phuket but terminated them soon after the airport shutdown, though it has continued to operate flights through Bangkok only.

China Eastern had agreed to start three flights a week on the same route on a non-scheduled basis on May 13.

The two Chinese carriers were the first foreign airlines known to have changed their plans in response to the latest political upheaval.

The suspension, triggered by a China National Tourism Administration travel advisory for Thailand soon after last week's political riots, effectively turned away some 20,000 to 30,000 Chinese tourists who could help extend a lifeline to the Phuket tourism industry in the next six months in the low season.

The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA), a local travel trade group that had successfully persuaded the two Chinese airlines to provide services to Phuket just days before the renewed political unrest, hopes the carriers put their plans back on track soon."The suspension is pending a return of normal situation and the lift of the current Chinese travel advisory," PTA vice-president Bhuritt Maswongssa said.

The advisory, issued after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency on April 12, urged Chinese tourists to "return home as soon as possible" and Chinese citizens should exercise caution if they were planning to visit Thailand.

The tourism industry sees the government's removal of the state of emergency being imposed in Bangkok as a prerequisite to more positive advisories.

Mr Bhuritt hopes that Premier Abhisit would talk to Chinese leaders during his forthcoming visit to ease the advisory and encourage Chinese visitors back to the kingdom.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects Chinese visitors, which have plunged in number by 80% due to the latest political turmoil, to return over the next three months. Last year, 800,000 people from China visited Thailand.