Emergency decree must be maintained: tourist body

It also lowered this year's tourist-arrival estimate from 12.8 million to 10.8 million.

"The tourism sector understands the emergency decree is an important measure for dealing with the crisis, and we don't want to see the government withdraw it while there are still so many problems," chairman Kongkrit Hiranyakit said yesterday.

He also urged the government to make returning peace to the Kingdom its top priority, in order to restore confidence among tourists and persuade them to return.

Kongkrit said the recent political turmoil had prompted the TCT once again to lower its tourist-arrival estimate, this time from 12.8 million to 10.8 million.

The TCT earlier cut its estimate from 14.8 million to 12.8 million following the Bangkok airport closures late last year.

Revenue from inbound tourism is now expected to be Bt100 billion less than the targeted Bt350 billion. As a result, 10 per cent of the industry's workforce, or 250,000 employees, are expected to be laid off.

To restore tourist confidence, Wichit na Ranong, an adviser to the TCT chairman, urged the Foreign Ministry to explain the local situation to countries that had issued travel warnings during the recent turmoil.

He also said tourism bodies should deal with the economic crisis, which has also badly hurt the tourism sector, by offering better-value packages to international tourists.

However, Association of Thai Travel Agents president Apichart Sankary said eight tourism associations had called on the government to restore the industry by withdrawing the emergency decree as soon as possible.

The group suggested the government launch more new campaigns to attract tourists in the coming high season.

Weerasak Kowsurat, chairman of the board of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said the government must find a way to convince tourists that the political chaos had ended, or else the tourism industry would melt down along with the entire economy.

"We already have tourism-promotion plans and activities but simply cannot say whether the Kingdom's political turmoil has ended or will spark up again," he said.

The TAT yesterday reported sharp losses from tourist cancellations during Songkran, due to the rioting.

Tourists from major markets are staying away from Thailand in droves.

Arrivals have plunged 30-50 per cent from South Korea and 25-30 per cent from Russia. Some 1,600 Hong Kong tourists have cancelled their trips, along with 12,000-15,000 tourists from China and 100 from Japan. Many Indians are also putting off travel here.

Large numbers of tourists from European Union countries are now in the Kingdom.

These are long-term visitors who have been here since early this month.

"The TAT is shooting a testimonial video of these tourists discussing their travels around the country. The strategy is to showcase actual experiences on YouTube and other influential media," said Weerasak.

The focus on big-spending tourists from the Middle East will be maintained, especially for travel next month. Targeted countries include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Kuwait, Iran and Egypt.

The government will work with tour agents to offer free trips for the maids or nannies of targeted tourists, thus persuading them to book family tours.

Weerasak said the TAT would design a marketing campaign aimed specifically at these targeted family groups rather than individuals.

"Thailand has more than 5,000 attractive tourist destinations and products that can be promoted, but we have to assure tourists about the political situation," he said.

Niti Kongkrut, director of the TAT's Pattaya office, said that fully half of all hotel rooms booked in that city were cancelled during the political crisis of the past week.

"Five-star hotels suffered the most damage, especially the official hotels for Asean Summit delegates," he said.

Niti said many tourists were not worried about the protest itself, but rather about security in Pattaya in general, so they avoided the resort city.

"The private sector is calling on the government to restore tourism in Pattaya by telling tourists around the world that the turbulence has ended and withdrawing the state of emergency," he said.

Theerapatr Sithikhun, owner of Dynamic RU, an inbound tour operator serving mainly the Russian market, predicts Russian tourists would not return to Pattaya anytime soon.

Moreover, other sensitive markets, such as China, Japan and the United Kingdom, are monitoring the situation before deciding to come here.