Tourist arrivals plummet in Thailand amid credit crunch
by Charlie McDonald-Gibson
Thailand's high season for tourism has just begun and runs to
February, but the signs for one of Southeast Asia's top tourism
destinations are worrying.
Sitting outside his Thai kickboxing equipment shop in Bangkok, Soombut
Yinglap says he has a plan for coping with the global financial
downturn -- eat less and hope the tourists eventually arrive.
"Now there are not many tourists. Before in the high season it would
be full," he told AFP, gesturing to the nearly empty pavement where
vendors try to sell holiday-makers everything from fake DVDs to
knuckle dusters. "I cannot do anything, just wait and see. Eat little,
spend little -- try and save some money," the 37-year-old said outside
his shop selling shorts, shin pads and headguards in the downtown Nana
district.
Up the road at Boss Avenue tailor shop, 28-year-old Peter Geri says
his store will cope by marketing cheaper fabrics. Fewer tourists in
need of a new suit are coming through his doors this year, a slowdown
he blames on "the business crash down all around the world".
Rising fuel costs pushed international arrivals at Bangkok's main
airport down to about 600,000 in August -- a 33 percent drop from a
year earlier after a jump of 5.5 percent in July, Ministry of Tourism
figures show.
In September, arrivals were down 21 percent, and industry experts say
numbers are expected to remain low as the global credit crunch prompts
consumers worried about their jobs and mortgages to stay at home.
"We will probably have a very bad high season," said Oliver Martin of
industry body the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
"You're going to have it across the board. It's going to be everyone
-- from the luxury resort right down to a small tour operator, a
mom-and-pop shop or a restaurant," he added.
Thailand is suffering from what Martin calls a "double whammy," as
bloody anti-government street protests in Bangkok also make the news
worldwide, worrying potential holiday-makers. Adding to the woes, a
territorial dispute with Cambodia erupted into a deadly firefight in
October affecting border arrivals, while a separatist bomb attack
injured 74 people near Thailand's frontier with Malaysia.
Kongkirt Hiranyakit, chairman of government body the Tourism Council
of Thailand, warned that the perfect storm of factors could lead to
the loss of up to 70,000 tourism industry jobs. An estimated one
million people work in the tourism business and around 700,000 in
small and medium enterprises, he said, adding: "The current crisis
could hit around 10 percent of those or around 60,000 to 70,000
people."
Although the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has been trying to
lure luxury travellers, seen as more immune to global downturns, one
of the problems with that strategy is that the kingdom still relies on
mass-market package tourists, Martin said. "This is your middle-income
and middle-class market and this is very much the market that's been
affected by their mortgages, potential jobs losses," he said (...)
full article at:
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081117/lf_afp/financeeconomythailandtourism_081117033009
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Ouch!
This confirms the impression I had a few weeks ago. Of course, the
planes are still full but it's just because the airlines have
cancelled several flights.
The TAT had declared that the high-season (15 nov to 15 jan) would be
normal but the never-ending mess seems to scare the Foreigners,
although they would not notice anything as tourists. The locals are
very friendly as usual.
Too bad for my beloved Land of Smiles!
Mort |