Big blow to Thai Tourism
The recent political turmoil in Thailand has affected the country’s biggest industry in a big way. It has been estimated that the country could lose as much as $ 5.35 Billion in tourism revenue with millions of tourists canceling their trips to Thailand. The main factors being violent street protests, emergency measures which were recently lifted in addition to the airports being mobbed by the protesters.
Recent statistics reveal that Chinese arrivals fell by 80-90%, South Korean by 30-50%, Taiwan by 30% and Japanese by 20%. In revenue this leads to a shortfall of 190 Billion Baht which is a drop of 35% compared to last year as per forecast by Thai tourism council.
The tourism council of Thailand has urged the government to prevent the job losses in tourism industry estimated to be at 275,000.
The prime minister of Thailand – Abhisit Vejjajiva has remarked that quite a few incentives have been brought into force to improve tourism. These include reducing flight landing charges, national park entrance fees and visa fees.
The tourism authority of Thailand is preparing to spend up to 600 million Baht to restore the international confidence in Thailand tourism after it took a sever beating due to recent anti-government protests.
The first campaign involves short feature films about Thailand being aired on CNN, BBC and Bloomberg. Further, media campaigns along with press familiarisation trips for journalists to take a first-hand look at the situation in Thailand are being planned.