Thailand optimistic about near-term tourism outlook

Tourism officials of Thailand have expressed confidence that its travel and tourism industry will rebound very soon following news this week of a reconciliation dialogue initiated by the Thai government with the opposition party.

Suraphon Svetasreni, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), admitted that the country’s tourism sector had been badly affected by the recent political situation, which resulted to violent protests in April that left at least 21 people dead and nearly 900 injured.

“[The number of] foreign tourists in Bangkok declined by 10 to 12 per cent during the first part of April. According to official data, the impact of the political situation since March [has resulted to losses for the tourism industry] of about 200-500 million baht ($6.2m-$15.4m; Dh22.8m-Dh56.5m) per day,” Suraphon said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

Despite this, Thailand’s tourism industry managed to open other windows of opportunity during the chaos with various destinations such as Phuket, Pattaya, Ko Samui and Hat Yai posting an increase in tourist arrivals of between 10 and 15 per cent.

Hopes, however, are starting to rise after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced a five-point “Road Map” that seeks to end protests and promote peace in the country. The scheme will likewise lead to an election by the end of 2010, an issue that the so-called Red Shirt protesters have been fighting for.

Suraphon said that once normalcy returns to the capital Bangkok, their agency plans to conduct a “robust and proactive promotional campaign both here in the Middle East and internationally.”

Sugree Sithivanich, executive director-Advertising and Public Relations Department of TAT, told Alrroya.com that prior to last month’s political upheaval, they were actually in the process of launching a televised tourism campaign with a budget of $1m. The project, undoubtedly, had to be delayed until the street protests calm down.

“We had to delay some promotions until the situation becomes stable. We, however, already have a long-term strategy in place as we promote Thailand’s three Gs (Good Health, Good Food, and Good Price),” says Sugree.

He added that they have plans to also launch a promotional campaign in the Middle East, which will cost around $4-5m for the next year – proof that the region is an important market to Thai tourism.

Suraphon said in the first two months of this year, Middle East tourist arrivals to Thailand reached over 100,000, jumping by an impressive 39 per cent compared to the January-February 2009 figure.

In the entire of 2009, inbound travel from the Middle East hiked by 5 per cent to over 370,000 with UAE (84,000), Kuwait (44,500) and Oman (41,000) representing the top tourist markets in the GCC region.

The recent political situation in Thailand has forced some governments, such as the United Kingdom, to issue a travel advisory to their citizens planning to visit the country.

Because of this, tourists had to alter their travel plans to other parts of Southeast Asia. While this may seem beneficial to the neighbouring countries’ tourism industry, it is an issue that members of the Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) nations do not condone.

“We sympathise with our brothers in Thailand. It’s unfortunate that they’re going through some political unrest, but we did receive reports that there were some groups [of tourists] who diverted their tours from Thailand to other parts of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines,” says Benito Bengzon, Jr., assistant secretary and head of Team Japan, Asia Pacific and Middle East of the Philippine Department of Tourism.

Hari Wibowo, manager of Internal Relations of Enjoy Jakarta, added that some tourists, who cancelled their travel to Thailand, opted to go to Indonesian tourist destinations such as Bali and Raja Ampat Islands, which is a marine tourism spot located in West Papua.