BANGKOK, 12 February 2014 The Tourism Council of Thailand remains optimistic about tourism revenue in 2014 despite political confrontations.
According to President of the Tourism Council of Thailand, Piyaman Techapaiboon, the organization has not lowered its forecast that local hospitality businesses will generate up to 2 trillion baht for the nation this year though the political rift continues.
Breaking the figure down in detail, Ms Piyaman said 700 billion baht would come from local tourists, while another 1.3 trillion baht would be from foreign visitors.
In the worst case scenario, the number of foreign tourists would drop by 6%, to 28.1 million; however, should the dispute continue through the first half of this year, Thailand would lose 82 billion baht worth of revenue from foreign visitors.
Forty countries have warned their citizens about Thailand’s political situation, five among which suggested that their people completely avoid visiting Thailand.
Ms Piyaman said her organization had joined hands with Kasikorn Bank, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP), devising a program to help promoting SMEs in the tourism sector.
