Not a happy Easter for Thai capital

The political stalemate in Thailand has stopped Bangkok from reaping a strong Hong Kong outbound this Easter holiday from April 2 to 6, with travellers calling in to postpone their Bangkok trips or switch destinations.

Even though the Travel Industry Council (TIC) gave agents the nod to resume Bangkok tours on March 24 after a two-week ban, travellers had requested to swap for other destinations such as Taiwan, or retain their tours for future use. Sixteen agents had agreed to refund payment (excluding visa charges) after deducting a service fee of not more than HK$800 (US$103) for travellers who wanted to cancel April 1-5 departures. The deduction for departures after April 6 was no more than HK$150. Travellers could rebook their postponed trips in the next six months at the original fare, without paying a service fee.

TIC executive director Joseph Tung said more than 10 charter flights to Bangkok were booked prior to the crisis and only seven were left last week, expecting the number to drop further if the situation did not improve.

Some travellers could not switch to other destinations as bookings were full, Tung said, as local agents reported a sharp rise in Easter outbound volumes on the back of an economic turnaround.

The government estimated that about 6.6 million people would leave the city by land, sea and air, six per cent more than last year?s Easter break.

EGL Tours reported that the Easter business was better than Chinese New Year because there were five consecutive off days for this period.

At press time last Tuesday, executive director Steve Huen said: ?We have the highest number of daily guest departures on April 2, which will break previous records. Charters will be deployed for destinations such as Hokkaido, Osaka and Taiwan.?

Huen said bookings began coming in late February with April 2 departures filled in early March despite a 10 to 15 per cent increase in prices.

 Sourced=TTG asia