Rubber protest impacting South tourism revenue

“Sales of salted eggs as a flagship product of Chaiya in Surat Thani are an example. The business is being hit because of a drop in tourist numbers,” Yutthachai Soonthronrattanavate, president of the Association of Domestic Travel, said yesterday.
Related businesses like restaurants, souvenir shops, local bus operators and vendors are also feeling the pinch. As a whole, the rally is making a psychological impact on the industry. The scene is tending to decimate tourist sentiment, he said.
Tourist destinations south of Surat Thani or islands such as Krabi and Phuket are also impacted because the flow of visitors to the area is obstructed due to blockades facing land transport.
The evidence is clear that foreign tourists in Khao San in Bangkok are having a hard time. It is becoming inconvenient to travel to the South by bus. The bus they board gets delayed.
The government needs to find a solution very quickly or else the tourism industry would take a bigger hit. It is a key industry with liquidity to fuel the national economy.
If the government does not solve the problem soon, the association and tourism operators would submit an open letter to the prime minister, calling for the government to treat all industries equally, not just any single one. What the government does unfairly to industries has a domino impact on other industries, including tourism, he said.
He said he understood the hardship of rubber growers under current market conditions. Although their movement is giving the tourism industry a big headache, he could accept and share their suffering. However, they should stage their demonstrations in limited areas, not spread out to other locations, especially the airport, as that is the heart of tourism.
If the airport is closed or becomes enwrapped in the chaos, the whole tourism industry may be ruined. Then the country would need a long time to restore its image, he warned.
Clearly, what the government should do right now is to try to create a good atmosphere. Tourism feeds on sentiment, not just economic boost to enhance spending power. The country needs a peaceful environment to encourage travelling, he added.
Thanongsak Somwong, president of the Koh Samui Tourism Promotion Association, called on the government to solve the problem quickly, otherwise its impact would be big and wide, especially on Phuket, Trang and Krabi.