Red-letter stretch

  According to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MoTS), foreign arrivals in January totalled 1.57 million, a 25 per cent increase on the same month last year. In February, Thailand recorded a 39 per cent jump year-on-year to 1.6 million international visitors.

At press time, tourism minister Chumpol Silpa-archa was tight-lipped over arrivals-to-date in March, amid tensions over the latest round of mass political protests, this time by red-shirt pro-Thaksin protestors.

Chumpol, however, was confident the country would meet this year?s target of 16 million tourists and surpass 2009?s foreign tourism revenue of 570 billion baht (US$17.56 billion).
MoTS and six tourism-related public and private sector bodies opened the new Tourist Assistance Centre on March 12, the day the red-March protests started. Located at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) headquarters, the 24/7 centre was created to monitor the political situation and provide round-the-clock support to tourists as and when they needed it.

Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) secretary-general Jumpol Chadavadh hailed the opening of the centre as ?a new dimension? in assisting tourists in times of crises and in showing Thailand?s readiness in dealing with tourism emergencies.

At press time, TAT deputy governor for marketing communications Prakit Piriyakiet, who heads the centre, said it was fortunate that tourists only called the hotline to seek advice on travel routes to avoid traffic.
As the red-March political protests dragged on and escalated to ?blood-spilling? acts where protestors doused important edifices, including the prime minister?s house, with blood, ATTA insisted that Bangkok city tours continued to operate as normal. Jumpol said ATTA members had been running the three key city tours to palaces, temples and the Rattanakosin Island, but routings had been altered to avoid road closures around the protest sites.

Bookings of tours to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha halved on the third day of the protests, to just 3,700 tourists instead of the usual 8,000 a day. The number of bookings, however, climbed the following day to 4,600 and on March 18, 5,900 tourists went on the tours.

The drop in bookings was normal, given the circumstances, said Jumpol, who expected demand for city tours to bounce back by March 16. In fact, his company ? Regale International Travel ? handled more than 2,000 cruise passengers on March 17.

Hotels  Bangkok hotels suffered a 10 to 20 per cent ? in some cases, 50 per cent ? drop in occupancy during the first few days of the March protests, according to the Thai Hotels Association (THA). Residential meetings and local banquets were also postponed or cancelled during this period.

Most of the declines came from Asian markets, including China, Japan and Hong Kong, said THA president Prakit Chinamourphong. Other Thai des-tinations, especially Phuket, continued to enjoy healthy occupancy but Prakit added: ?I am worried about how the current protest will develop. If it turned violent, it would surely affect April bookings (which, at present, are at their peak).?

Despite the troubles in the capital, Prakit believed demand for Thailand would hold up, citing as proof the five to 10 per cent rate hikes Thai hotels managed to swing during last month?s ITB Berlin. Phuket properties achieved the highest increase at eight to 12 per cent, while Pattaya and Chiang Mai upped rates by three to five per cent, he said.
At press time, it was business as usual at all airports in Thailand, including key gateway Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The government had assured that both Suvarnabhumi Airport and the road leading to it would not be closed, said tourism minister Chumpol.

The kingdom, however, has been slapped by travel advisories from 38 countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Germany, the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.