Local travellers lead recovery

20 Jun 2014  2036 | World Travel News

Tourism experts believe that lifting the curfew nationwide, last Friday, will encourage more Thais to travel in the country as well as help to restore international confidence in the destination.
Association of Domestic Travel president, Yuttachai Soonthornrattanavate, said the lifting of the curfew will encourage domestic travel almost immediately, and that be default will underscore the positive travel environment to international markets.
“We need to add attractive incentives or discounts to encourage local tourists as tourism dropped 20% in the past month due to political unrest,” he said.
The president added: “Thais should start travelling in the country and this will show that the country is safe for foreigners too.”
Usually, domestic travel takes the lead and supports up-country destinations keeping cash flow positive when international markets are in decline.
Tourism Council of Thailand vice president, Porntip Hirunkate, added lifting the curfew was a big blessing for both individual tourists and group tours.
“We expect more Asian tourists, especially from Singapore and Hong Kong, to visit Thailand while tourists from Europe and the US will return in the next one to three months,” she said.
However, martial law which is still enforced and this is a problem for the events business mainly because it prevents companies and events organisers overseas from securing adequate insurance for participants.
Association of Thai Travel Agents president, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, called on the military junta to lift martial law to build confidence in the country. However, that is unlikely in the short-term.
“The military has lifted the curfew to restore the travel environment, but this will be good mainly for domestic travel, not for the entire sector. To attract foreign tourists we need to end martial law too.”
Some travel executives have suggested that emergency laws might need to be in place for some time to ensure a safe environment but the terminology “martial law” is too severe and the connotations are negative particularly for European travellers.
Up to 10 June, bookings through the association’s members decreased 41.08% to 37,453 visits.
All the top 15 markets recorded declines: Hong Kong (-87.15%); Vietnam (-81.09%); Taiwan (-68.57%); Japan (-65.45%); China (-56.10%); South Korea (-51.87%); India (-50.72%); UK (-47.18%); Germany (-38.22%); India (-34.60%); France (-24.67%); Australia (-23.65%); Russia (-21.46%); US (-16.53%); and Italy (-12.10%).
He forecasted that travel should recover by the fourth quarter.
Thai Hotels Association president, Surapong Techaruvichit, said the association was positive on the long-term outlook, but recovery could take a few more months.
During the first five months of this year, tourist arrivals to Thailand declined 5.93% to 10,357,388 visits compared to 11,009,727 over the same period last year, according to Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ data.

Sourced: ttrweekly

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