When asked what it would do if the red-shirt protests continue well into May and travel advisories continue to prohibit travel to Thailand, officials said they were  still committed to hosting the show in Bangkok.

Switching to Pattaya or Phuket was not on the radar, they said. The event is scheduled for 2 to 4 June at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi province, just 30 km north of the city centre.

However most of the hotels contracted to provide accommodation for buyers and media are in downtown Bangkok and around the protest area.

Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Suraphon Svetasreni, confirmed the decision to stay with Bangkok, last week, but he did concede the TTM might be postponed if trouble continues. He reaffirmed the agency had no intention of considering a different venue.

“I still believe that the situation will not last that long. Buyers attendance is promising,” he said. There are 353 buyer applications, but it is still not clear how many of them will upgrade to firm bookings.

TAT’s confident view is not shared by the private sector in yet another glaring example of how far the government agency is adrift from industry thinking.

Association of Thai Travel Agents president, Surapol Sritrakul, said one month was not be enough time for foreign business buyers to decide whether they should come or not. With the travel advisories in place and the lack of business that can be sent to Thailand over the next six months, they may consider it a waste time and investment.

However, he insisted the TTM plus should occur this year, but only when the political was clear and all rallies had ended in the capital.

“If it is postponed by two months that would be fine, even as far forward as September or October would be okay,” said Mr Surapol.

The latest report indicates a  12% decline in seller participation from 405 organisations last year to 355 sellers. The registration breaks down into 257 hotels and resorts, 46 tour operators, one airline, three eco and adventure operators, 11 in the wellness and spa categories, 11 in entertainment and culture and two golf courses.

At the Greater Mekong Sub-region booth area, there are now 12 organisations, including NTOs, plus private sector companies — one from Laos, three from Vietnam, six from Myanmar and two from Cambodia. Cambodia Ministry of Tourism confirmed last week it will take two booths.

The event will include hospitality business products, a seminar and meeting of the Thai Hotels Association, seminars of Thai Restaurant Association and restaurant clubs, chef competitions and meetings of retail operators in Thailand.

Last year the event attracted 756 participants from 45 countries and 24,126 visitors from 59 countries.

For more information and application, visit www.foodhotelthailand.com

There are 47 travel warnings advising visitors to avoid Bangkok and exercise extreme caution while travelling in the country but this is the first time that so many nations are warning citizens that the entire country should be off limits for all but essential travel.

It is recognised by the travel industry as an  insurmountable setback for attempts to buy a way out of the crisis through public relations and advertising campaigns.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports hope to get a Bt1.6 billion budget to go on the offensive, but there are concerns that it would be wasted as long as the country’s image as a peaceful and hospitable destination takes a beating worldwide media.

The 10 countries that are advising citizens to stay away are: Saudi Arabia; United of Arab Emirates; Spain; Hong Kong; China; Czech Republic; Taiwan; Vietnam; Germany and the UK.

The latest advisories update came from Vietnam, Germany and UK.

The UK limit advisory will be update again 30 April while Vietnam’s travel advisory says it ban on travel temporary.

Of the 47 countries issuing warnings, 25 countries announced advisory at level 4 which state that citizens should reconsider their travel plans. They include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia and France.

Many tour operators including the global giant, TUI are suspending all tours to Bangkok until further notice.

Yesterday’s battle between red shirts and government forces in Pathum Thani province, 40 km north of the city centre, that resulted in 87 injuries and the death of a soldier indicate unrest is not just confined to the city centre that is currently held hostage by 10,000 hard core red shirt protesters.

The pitch battles between army and protesters, yesterday afternoon, occured  on a stretch of the main highway,  just 7 km north of  Don Mueang Airport and 3 km south of Rangsit in Pathum Thani province. It took more than six hours to clear the backlog of traffic.

Potentially dangerous protests have been held in many provinces, negating the popular argument in travel cirlces that the disturbances are  limited to specific areas of the capital city and are not unduly concerning travellers. 

In the meantime, the travel warnings have caused a substantial drop in passenger traffic through Suvarnabhumi Airport with some airlines flying with just a handful of passengers. Indonesia’s Bali,  Singapore, which has just opened its casinos and theme parks, and Malaysia are all taking bookings that were earlier destined for Thailand.

There are also reports that Sri Lanka will benefit as European tour operators transfer clients to the beaches south of Colombo.

The action followed an announcement of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation spokesperson, Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd, earlier in the week.

The military checkpoints are at Sala Daeng Intersection, Phayathai Intersection, Pongpraram Intersection, Naradhivas-Silom Intersection, Henry Dunant Intersection and Asoke Montri Intersection. Roads are not closed except where red shirt barriers span intersections close to Ratchaprasong district. 

The most significant military build up is at the Sala Daeng intersection and near Asoke BTS, but traffic is still moving.

Meanwhile, BTS operates from 0600 to 2000 with stops at all stations. MRT subway trains operate from 0600 to 2400 as normal, but services at the Silom station will close daily  at 1900, until further notice.

It is an unusual niche for a travel company that has been established just for one year, but the owners believe there is potential to bring high-end, big spending tourists to Thailand and eventually Malaysia and Singapore.

“There are 600 polo horses in Thailand, alone, of which 90% are from Argentina, which is the leading polo nation in the world,” said Puro Polo managing director, Franco Forastieri, when asked why make Thailand the starting point for his polo tour business.

“There are also three polo clubs in Thailand and the country has many other attractions to offer when the polo sessions are over.”

They are located in Bangkok, Pattaya and Chiang Mai.

Known as the sport of royalty, Polo Sports intends to woo wealthy Agentinians, who have cash to burn and time to spend on their newly acquired hobby, to buy a package to Thailand.

“We will invite people to learn how to play polo while enjoying a holiday. The only two requirements to enrol are they must know how to ride a horse and they have plenty of cash to pay for the experience.”

According to Mr Forastieri, the programme will last 14 days. The first three days will be spent in Bangkok with one full-day for polo training at VR Polo Club, located near Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakarn province, 20 km from Bangkok. The rest of the programme will be dedicated to leisure travel – three nights in Chiang Mai; two nights in Chiang Rai and a week in Phuket.

All the ground handling will be supplied by Pacific Leisure Group, which is the contracted business partner in Asia to promote travel between Asia and South America.

PLG’s Thailand office will coordinate all activities in its 16-country network, while the Hong Kong office plays a key-role in developing business opportunities in China and North Asia.

The price of the programme is Bt60,000 per person for ground handling including city tour and transportation; plus Bt70,000 for fares from Argentina using Malaysian Airlines, Lufthansa or KLM. The company also expects to use Thai Airways International once the airline completes a code- share agreement with South African Airways, at the end of May.

Puro Polo will promote polo tours in Scandinavia, Spain and South America, especially Argentina. Also there are plans to attend trade shows such as FITUR in Spain, ITB in Germany, WTM in England and TUR in Sweden.

Asked about future business expansion in Southeast Asia after Thailand, Mr Franco said the company is already seeking a partner for stage two polo tours to Malaysia and Singapore.

According to Mr Arttachai, the budget will be used for tourism marketing by the Tourism Authority of Thailand — just Bt600 million for domestic market and the rest Bt1 billion will be for international marketing.

Also, the Ministry will ask the Cabinet to extend the grace period for soft loans granted since Suvarnabhumi Airport closure in 2008 for another year; increase the loans by Bt5 billion; waive the national park entrance fees for another year; and support tour programmes for transit passengers.

Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Suraphon Svetasreni, said if approved the new budgets would be used for road shows, advertisements, familiarisation trips and cooperation with overseas agents and airlines, to create awareness in markets where the losses were most dramatic. He identified Asian markets as a priority. A special deal website following the style of http://www.thailandhotdeal.comthat was used after the tsunami disaster will be introduced.

Also for domestic markets, TAT will cooperate with the private sector to organise more consumer fairs in high spending power areas — two in Bangkok; one in the western region; one each in the North and South.

Tourism could grow by about 5.5% this year according to the Kasikorn Bank’s research unit, but it would depend on a speedy conclusion to the country’s political impasse.

The bank warned that if the crisis creeps into June, the second half of the year will fail to deliver a sustained improvement to help the country close 2010 with a small positive margin. KBank’s estimate of 5.5% is down from an earlier figure suggesting tourism revenue could grow by 10%.

However, the assessment came with a clear warning that it would be hard to win the confidence of foreigners in time for the high season in October if the crisis continues into the second half of the year.

The analysis says political unrest since March is the main factor that will unhinge travel. Travel agencies that still represent a large proportion of the inbound market will be reluctant to send tours to Thailand, especially Bangkok.

The report was released, 23 April, a day after the bomb attacks on Silom Road that resulted in at least 87 injured and one death. An Australian was among the injured, who had just arrived on holiday. After the incident, travel advisories against Thailand peaked at 47 countries with seven countries banning travel to Thailand.

The Japanese government has also increased the warning level affecting several tour contracts, especially for Japan’s Golden Week Holiday.

Even before the 22 April incident, the latest Association of Thai Travel Agents reported a drop of client arrivals to 2,451, 20 April, from 6,009 recorded on 1 April.

Federation of Thai Travel Association had earlier estimated the loss in tourism business at about Bt10 billion. Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau reports the loss at Bt1 billion for the MICE industry alone. Domestic tourism claims a loss of around Bt1 billion.

FETTA forecasts that the escalation will cost tourism dearly during May to October, when the decline could be as much as 40 to 50%. Usually the low season continues to have visitors from Australia, New Zealand, Middle East and Asia.

“From 5 to 6 million arrivals from these markets, we may have to settle for 2 to 2.5 million arrivals. Based on TAT’s tourism receipts formula, the financial loss will be about Bt70 billion to Bt100 billion,” said Mr Apichart.

Meanwhile, at Ratchaprasong area where the main protest site is located, the loss has been estimated at about Bt500 million per day for all the business enterprises in the area.

The Department of Labor Protection and Welfare reported earlier that there were 7,000 companies in the Pathumwan district employing around 110,000 persons. In Ratchaprasong area, locked-down by protesters, there are 3,300 companies with 63,000 employees.

The seminar targets 100 personnel in the ecotourism field including owners of tourism sites, service providers and students.

The lecturers include: OTD executives; TAT ex-governor, Pradech Payakvichien; Thailand Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association president, Duangkamol Chansuriyawong; Professional Guides Association of Thailand president, Wirote Sitaprasertnand; and professors from the university.

The programme runs from 0900 to 1700. Reservations required by 30 April.

Visit: http://thai.tourismthailand.org/news/content-3124.htmlfor application download. Contact Ratjabhat Baan Somdej University at tel: 02 473 7000 ext 3130 or Email: biobandej_1061@hotmail.com

TCEB will have to work with the National Economic and Social Development Bureau to conduct an in-depth study about the project’s feasibility, budget, location, event theme and work plan. The complete report will have to be ready to propose to the Cabinet in 60 days.

Former Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Phornsiri Manoharn, is heading the project.

In the meantime the bureau will have to conduct an intenstive public relations campaign to win the support of the Thai public.

TCEB asked the Cabinet to set up a national committee to oversee all related tasks, before officially announcing the bid at the Shanghai World Expo, 18 June. The bureau claims it gained positive feedback from 450 representatives from MICE-related public and private organisations on its Open Day, 22 February, that gave it the confidence to present the project to the Cabinet.

Based on TCEB’s estimates, World Expo 2020 will cost about Bt20 billion. The cost breakdown: 0.2% for a feasibility study; 0.8% for bidding proposal; 42% for infrastructure development; 30% for venue construction; 15% for surrounding area development; 7% for accommodation construction and 5% for public relations and road shows.

TCEB claims the event will earn Bt167 billion in direct income, based on 30 million domestic and international visitors paying an entrance fee of Bt200 per head per day as well as spending during the event.

The bureau is the latest in a long queue demanding bail-outs. The Association of Thai Travel Agents started the ball rolling when it said many tourist companies would need loans to survive.

TCEB president, Akapol Sorasuchart, met with 32 related private sectors, earlier this week, concluding  that at least Bt200 million would be needed to beef up its current budget.

He said the funds would be used to compensate for the loss of lucrative events that should have met in Thailand and have gone elsewhere.

There has been a massive exodus of meetings that were scheduled for Thailand, mainly to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Observers say the events market has been ruined for at least a year. And beyond that confidence will remain low in  the country’s ability to meet its obligations and provide a safe and viable environment to host large-scale events.

TCEB will ask the government to provide a 300% tax reduction for MICE events, while suggesting government units support domestic MICE events. MICE companies should also be eligible for soft loans to see them through the crisis.

TCEB estimates the loss at around Bt1 billion.

International events that were supported by TCEB have gone elsewhere and they were worth Bt594.3 million. About 18 events with 8,254 participants have now been relocated to other Asian destinations.

The bureau says a growth of 25% in travellers and revenue is very unlikely. Instead event related travel could drop by 11% in arrivals and 30% in revenue, which means 551,800 travellers and Bt31,500 million in revenue lost due to political discord.

Optimistically, it hopes an infusion of Bt200 million, that would double its budget, could help it to maintain the same level as last year at 628,653 travellers and Bt45,560 million in revenue.

Industry experts do not share such optimism stating the country has been in deep political chaos since 2006 with no evidence that political leaders have the initiative or moral integrity to put the country’s best interest first.