Tourism agency bidding for return of foreign tourists ahead of high season
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is preparing a three-month plan to rebuild tourism, but the country would probably still fail to achieve its arrival target for this year.
The recovery plan is set to run this month until August, almost three months, to draw tourists back before the high season arrives.
The plan starts with a fam trip bringing about 1,000 travel and blog writers from around the world to Thailand to see the situation here for themselves.Street festivals would be organised particularly in Bangkok to show that local lives continue to go on and tourists continue to come to the capital. A foreign super star singer will be invited to Thailand to help promote tourism.
Thawatchai Arunyik, governor of TAT, yesterday appeared before the international media in Bangkok during the Thailand Travel Mart Plus the Greater Mekong Subregion to ensure that Thailand remained one of most popular destinations in the world.
There have been declines in arrivals from some short-haul markets, while many others are still doing well. Huge losses were seen from Brunei, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, but inbounds from many countries rose.
European arrivals are up 7.6 per cent to 2.76 million. In April, arrivals rose from the Middle East by 17.6 per cent, Oceania by 14.1 per cent, Europe 12.3 per cent and America 1.9 per cent.
The military government has moved quickly to relax nationwide curfews and removed them entirely in the key tourist destinations of Phuket, Samui and Pattaya.
The Tourism Ministry is set to propose the lifting of curfews in other key destinations – Krabi, Phang-nga, Trang, Hat Yai, Ko Chang, Cha-am, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai.
"Thais can enjoy their daily lives as normal, eating out, shopping, travelling and doing business. We strongly believe that Thailand’s tourism industry will rapidly bounce back again by utmost efforts," he said.
Although the TAT and military government are pushing hard to restore tourism, it is likely they would miss the target. The agency had projected foreign visitors this year at 28 million before revising the target down to 25.6 million, a slight drop from last year due mainly to the political issue.
However, visitor expenditures are expected to bulge 2.18 per cent to Bt1.23 trillion or US$38.4 billion.
"TAT is asking the government for an extra budget. If granted, we should adjust arrivals up to 25.9 million, or about 300,000 more tourists," he said. TAT also expects that the military government would hold a general election or establish an interim government within 150 days so it would ease the worries from outsiders.
Piyaman Tejapaibul, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, urged the junta to appoint the president of the National Tourism Policy Committee to deal with the tough situation. The body collapsed when the government was seized by the military last month.
The tourism industry needs the committee to be reactivated to address three problems – tourism budget management, low confidence and illegal businesses like taxi and jet ski scams."We also ask the government for more discussions in this uncertain situation," she added.
