On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:29:55 GMT, Blade@Runner.com (Deckard) wrote:
>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
>-
>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!
Good article overall. It suggests Thailand is not immune to the
global economic downturn. Of course, nobody speaking truth would have
imagined aloud she would be to begin with. There's nothing in the
article that suggests anything other than that economics drives this
train, though some of the social deterrants are noted in one
paragraph. Can't speak for the general mindset of all tourists, of
course, but U.S. citizens aren't receiving broad travel advisories re:
Thailand, and what caution is being advised hasn't changed for several
years (i.e., the South).
Thanks for the article. Nam Peung is enjoying her time there already
and I look forward to spending a few weeks in the LOS commencing in a
couple of days.
>Mort
Best,
- John Frawley |