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TAT trying to attract
more Indian tourists
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is aiming to attract
visitors from India during the low season for European tourists.
Thailand has become one of their favorite destinations for vacation,
shopping, honeymoons, and health care.
 Chattan
Kunchorn Na Ayutthaya, director of the TAT New Delhi office.
TAT Pattaya Office and TAT New Delhi Office brought 20 Indian tourism
agents to Pattaya as the Turismo Asia TAT Aet India Fam Trip to meet
Pattaya tourism business entrepreneurs at the A-One Cruise Hotel on
April 1.
Niti Kongkrut, director of the TAT Pattaya office, said that currently
India has a high level of economic growth and it has the world’s second
largest population at more than a billion people.
About 30% of Indians have high purchasing power forming a growing middle
class who do travel abroad for holidays with their families and many are
choosing to come to Pattaya.
Last year 530,000 Indian tourists visited Pattaya, generating an income
of more than 10 billion baht. In 2009 TAT aims to attract at least that
number of tourists from the Sub-Continent and more, Nitti said.
Honeymooners and businessmen will come as hotel rates and daily living
expenses are cheaper Thailand than in India.
Chattan Kunchorn Na Ayutthaya, director of TAT’s New Delhi Office, said
TAT realizes the size of the Indian market and are promoting Thai
seaside locations, beaches, cultural and health tourist destinations,
health services and traditional festivals.
TAT also provided table-top sales for 30 Thai tourism companies and
hotel entrepreneurs to sell their tours and services to the visiting
Indian tourist agents.
Koh Samui, Chiang Mai implicated
Watchiranont Thongtep, TTG Asia
Two Thai destinations are feeling the pinch from last week’s
chaos and riots in Bangkok.
Tourism Association of Koh Samui president, Seni Puwasetthawon, said
hotels on Koh Samui were suffering an immediate 20 percent drop on the
number of Asian tourists for the week.
“From this month until September, hotels on Koh Samui will probably be
running an average occupancy rate of 30 to 40 percent, down from about
50 to 60 percent during the same period last year,” he said.
Thai Hotels Association Northern Chapter president, Kanog Suvannavisutr,
said occupancies at Chiang Mai hotels within the next six months would
be around 40 to 45 percent, or about a 10 percent drop over the same
period last year.
He said the bleak outlook would cause hotels in Chiang Mai to reduce
workforce by around 20 percent, or about 6,000 staff, to sustain the
impact from the riots in Bangkok.
Business as usual for PEACH
The Royal Cliff Beach Resort and Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH),
the venue of the ASEAN Summit and Related Summit forced to be cancelled by
red-shirt protestors, has announced it is business as usual at its premises.
The statement said: “We would like to inform all our friends and business
partners that all residents and staff, as well as guests - designated facilities
of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort have been unaffected, and our usual service has
been uninterrupted, by the events that took place on April 11 in and around
PEACH.”
The hotel said the anti-government protestors spent less than 40 minutes on the
resort’s premises.
“No clashes of any nature took place on the resort’s premises. Likewise, there
was no interaction between the protestors and the in house guests. By the same
evening, the protestors left Pattaya,” the statement read.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared Pattaya and Chonburi under a state of
emergency early Saturday afternoon, and lifted the decree about six hours later.
TTG Daily News went to Pattaya on Sunday, and again on Tuesday, and witnessed as
per the Royal Cliff’s statement that all Pattaya accommodation and tourism
services continued to function as normal. (TTG Asia)
Magic Tank opens at Underwater World
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Guests at Underwater World Pattaya can defy gravity and hand feed fish
through the side of the new Magic Tank without water leaking out.
 Darong
Yingchon, animal care manager of Underwater World Pattaya, demonstrates the
Magic Tank.
On April 4 at the aquarium, Bernard Wong, general manager, and Darong Yingchon,
animal care manager, showed off the nation’s first Magic Tank.
Wong said the tank works like magic as visitors can insert hands into the tank
at the side to feed the fish without water leakage, contradicting nature’s law.
The tank works by having the top of the tank as a vacuum area keeping a low
pressure so that water does not leak. The tank, 2.4 meters wide and 7.5 meters
long, is expected to become a highlight to attract tourists to the aquarium.
Protest violence hits tourism
The protests on April 10 and 11 in Pattaya took its
toll on tourism in Pattaya.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Pattaya tourism is bearing the full impact of the disruption caused by
protests of the anti-government red shirts which forced the cancellation of the
ASEAN summit and a state of emergency to be declared.
Hotel reservations during Songkran have dropped to only 20% occupancy.
While the street protest violence by pro and anti government supporters
fortunately only injured some 10 people with no deaths, its impact on tourism to
the city raises grave concerns all around.
On April 11 at city hall, Pol. Lt-Gen. Adul Sangsingkaew, deputy commander of
the Royal Thai Police, and Mayor Itthipol Khunplome gave a press conference on
the cancellation of the ASEAN Summit at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya.
Lt-Gen. Adul said that police were fully-stretched but could still maintain
security for the ASEAN leaders and the protest wrongdoers were being dealt with
according to the law.
Mayor Itthipol said that the government had repealed the state of emergency in
Pattaya and Chonburi, returning the city to a normal.
The mayor said that Pattaya City would continue to move forward and create trust
in its tourism despite the events that occurred.
Thanet Supornsaharungsi, advisor of the Pattaya Tourism and Businessmen
Association, said that the government’s state of emergency declaration badly
affected Pattaya tourism as hotel reservations dropped by approximately 70%.
He said in his opinion the state of emergency would not have been needed if the
government or units associated with the summit had been better prepared from the
beginning when the protesters congregated in city.
“In reality Pattaya as a whole wasn’t affected by the red shirt protesters who
only targeted the resort so the emergency declaration should have been confined
to the area of chaos.”
Sopin Thappajug, managing director of the Diana Group in Pattaya, agreed that
had the government acted effectively at the start nothing would have happened.
“This state of emergency is not good for the country and Pattaya tourism even
since the emergency declaration had ended. This event has only created
satisfaction for some people but the after effects will immensely damage the
country,” said Sopin.
Hoteliers said this disruption unfortunately came just when tourists were
beginning to come back. The government sector is urged to inform tourists that
all is getting back to normal.
‘Thailand’s hotel business will fall to 20-year low’
Sirima Eamtako, TTG Asia
The Thai travel trade has expressed fears the current political turmoil,
coupled with the rippled impact from late last year’s closure of Suvarnabhumi
Airport, will send Thai tourism industry several steps backward.
Dusit International CEO Chanin Donavanik was quoted in a local Thai newspaper as
saying the political unrest would cause Thailand’s hotel business to fall to a
20-year low.
The trade has also estimated around 100,000 employees in tourism-related
businesses are in danger of losing their jobs should the unrest continue and
worsen.
Tourism Council of Thailand president, Kongkrit Hiranyakit, said Thailand would
lose mostly tourists from the 15 countries whose leaders were caught in the
middle of last Saturday’s chaos at the venue of the ASEAN Summit and Related
Summits in Pattaya.
“Tourists from these countries amount to around 8.5 million visitors, or about
60 percent of the total number of travelers to Thailand. A large drop from these
countries is inevitable as their leaders, who experienced first-hand the chaos
in Pattaya, will certainly advise their citizens to avoid traveling to
Thailand.”
At press time, 19 countries had issued advisories against travel to Thailand,
just as the Thai authorities managed to control the riots - which had escalated
and turned violent - on most of the streets of Bangkok.
Australia, the UK, US, Russia, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Singapore and several
countries in Europe including Germany and France have told their citizens to
reconsider their travel plan to Thailand, or to either stay away from Bangkok or
exercise extreme caution while in the Thai capital.
At press time, several main roads in Bangkok’s inner districts were cleared of
the riots while certain parts remained closed for security reasons.
Bt10 million BMA property damage from protest
Damages estimated at about Bt9.5 million to property belonging to the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration (BMA) were incurred during violent clashes between
anti-government protesters and government forces in the capital this week, BMA
Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said Thursday, while announcing that religious
rites will be held to boost the morale of the people.
Among the city government’s inventory which were completely destroyed or damaged
during Monday’s clashes were nine mobile toilets, 30 surveillance cameras,
traffic lights and passenger bus pavilions, said Sukhumbhand.
The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) said earlier that 16 buses were burned
and 15 damaged in clashes which ended in the capital Tuesday. Total damages
sustained by the transport agency were estimated at Bt30 million.
In an effort to rehabilitate and boost the morale of Bangkokians shocked and
depressed by the political turmoil, the governor said that Buddhist and Brahmin
religious rites are to be conducted, and that people who practice other
religions such as Islam or Christianity could hold rites at mosques or churches.
Sukhumbhand said he is thinking of asking 435 schools under BMA to teach pupils
what should be done to respect, preserve and act patriotic properly in the
school curriculum. The teaching is aimed at enabling the students to become good
citizens in future. (TNA)
Cabinet puts tourism promotion atop national agenda
The Cabinet on Friday resolved to put tourism promotion atop the national agenda
to boost the tourism industry. This comes after a number of countries issued
travel warnings to their citizens following recent clashes between
anti-government protesters and government security personnel, and the subsequent
declaration of a State of Emergency in the capital.
Deputy Government Spokesman Watchara Kanikar said that the tourism industry,
with around 1.2 million employees, was most affected by the recent political
chaos. The Cabinet has resolved to assist the sector as a national priority and
has assigned the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to propose a tourism boosting
plan, to be submitted to the cabinet.
Meanwhile, Phuket Tourist Association president Somboon Jirayut said that due to
the recent political chaos Shanghai Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have
cancelled their direct flights to Phuket, earlier scheduled from late April and
mid-May respectively.
The two Chinese airlines cited security concerns as a reason of the
cancellation. They instead operated the direct flight from Shanghai to Bali.
Somboon said that with 22 million people in Shanghai, if only one percent of its
population (200,000 people) visits Thailand, this would considerably help boost
Phuket’s economy.
Somboon, however, said after discussion with Chinese travel agents he was
informed that they would bring Chinese tourists back to Phuket when they are
certain that situation has returned to normalcy. (TNA)
ASEAN Secretary-General says region’s leaders willing to meet again
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said on Friday he is making efforts to
coordinate a meeting of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and the regional bloc’s dialogue partners which were called off when the
anti-Thai government protesters stormed the summit venue in Pattaya.
Surin called on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House last
Friday.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Surin said that the ASEAN leaders as
well as their dialogue partners - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India
and New Zealand - are prepared to travel to attend a rescheduled meeting in
Thailand again, after the original event was cancelled.
Surin said he will promptly coordinate with the country leaders to reschedule a
date, which should be within the next month or two. The venue also remains
undecided.
“ASEAN leaders and dialogue partners remain confident and willing to cooperate
with Thailand,” Surin said. “They harbor no criticism of what’s happened that
prevented the meeting from happening.”
According to Surin, the rescheduled round of the ASEAN summit will now not
involve heads of international organizations such as the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund or the United Nations Secretary-General due to short
notice. These leaders will, however, be invited to attend a later round of talks
toward the end of the year. (TNA)
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