Political unrest takes its toll on tourist industry

Leading tourism-business operators fear more cancellations, especially now that 14 countries have issued travel warnings for Thailand.

Thai Hotels Association president Prakit Chinamourphong said his group was gathering information on possible cancellations at all hotels nationwide after the Japanese group cancelled its reservation at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 22 for next month. The number of foreign tourists for Songkran is expected to be down 30-40 per cent from last year.

"What's more worrying is we plan to welcome 50,000 Chinese tourists for May Day plus other visitors attending meetings slated for later this year," he said.

Some 6,000 delegates are scheduled to travel here for a medical and nutrition conference and more than 20,000 for a Lion's Club function.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan had advised their citizens to avoid areas where protesters were gathering. Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Singapore have also alerted their citizens to potential risks.

TAT executives held an urgent meeting yesterday and reopened their "war room" to update foreign tourists about the political situation. Offices abroad have been asked to summarise the impact on foreign markets every two days for the tourism and sports minister.

Pensuda Praiaram, deputy governor for administration, admitted the chaos would lead to a lower number of Songkran revellers in the greater Bangkok area, against earlier expectations of a 30- to 40-per-cent increase. However, upcountry celebrations may not be affected.

Advance bookings for hotels on Khao San Road, a major destination for Songkran revellers, is down to 20 per cent of capacity, from 95 per cent before the rally. Some 200,000 are expected to spend Bt300 million there.

Association of Thai Travel Agents president Apichart Sankary said most foreign tourists had now cancelled Bangkok city tours and would head upcountry instead. This will lead to a loss of Bt6 million a day for the city's tourism business. Some 5,000 foreign tourists are expected to take Bangkok tours on each of the three Songkran days, down from 10,000 in the previous years. The tours costs Bt1,200 per head per day.

Prakit said that with the number of foreign guests declining, hotels across the nation had been closing their restaurants temporarily since early this month, but they are hopeful the situation will improve after the long holiday. and allow them to resume normal operations.

Le Meridien Chiang Mai has decided to close three newly opened restaurants.