Government will have to bail out tourism

Private sector associations prepare to ask for a  Bt5 billion bail-out in soft loans once the crisis is over.

Also they want the government to extend the grace period on current soft loans that was granted last year to tourism SMEs that have now suffered the financial fall-out of almost two years of unrest since December 2008.

The current loan was granted since May, last year, to help tourism SMEs deal with losses attributed to political unrest. The Bt5 billion project came with a generous interest-free loan period and about 1,000 companies joined the programme.

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Resorts: What ash problem?

Travel to southern resorts in Thailand should resume quickly from European markets now that air space has reopened after volcanic ash grounded all flights across most of Europe for almost a week. But the impact was small or so travel associations claim.

Association of Thai Travel Agents secretary-general, Jumpol Chadavadh, said the shut-down of air space came at the end of the Thai tourist season so the impact was far lower than anticipated at beach resorts.

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Tours on the mend in first quarter

Tourism was on the mend up until red shirt protesters took to the streets of Bangkok in late March according to the latest data released by the Association of Thai Travel Agents.

The association reported that arrivals, using its members’ services, increased 58.47% up until the end of March giving the agents a strong first quarter.

Figures recorded by ATTA cover customers handled by company members at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. It showed 744,270 arrivals, surpassing 469,674 gained during the first quarter of 2009. The association does not collect statistics for arrivals at Phuket.

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Ministry reports positive quarter

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports preliminary report on tourist arrivals shows an increase during the first quarter of the year, January to March.

All market regions showed a positive performance, again illustrating that recovery was in the pipeline prior to red-shirt rallies that have since wrecked havoc on the economy particularly in the sensitive travel sector.

The ministry confirmed 3,645,330 arrivals through all immigration checkpoints. The latest figures show an increase for 25.15% to 4,562,080 arrivals. The report also shows a 5.44% increase over the first quarter 2008 arrivals when the industry generated 4,326,793 arrivals.

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Ratchaprasong hotels close

Protests at Ratchapasong Intersection forced the closure of most hotels in the tourist district since early yesterday morning, although a couple still claim they are operating but under severe difficulties.

Holiday Inn, Intercontinental and Grand Hyatt Erawan all signalled they would remain closed until at least 25 April for security reasons.

Guests moved to JW Marriott, Sheraton Grand and Holiday Inn Silom.

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ATTA reschedules AGM meeting

ATTA will hold its annual general meeting for the year 2009/2010  22 April at the Dusit Thani from 0930 to 1300.

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Cambodia delays on TTM invite

Just six weeks out from the 2 to 4 June, Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2010, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is still waiting for the Cambodia National Tourism Organisation to confirm if it will participate or not.

The event will be held at Impact Challenger Hall in Muang Thong Thani, a northern suburb of Bangkok, 25 km from the city’s down town tourist districts.

According to TAT,  the official applications were closed since 31 March but the agency kept the door open for the Cambodian tourism organisation to confirm attendance. TAT staff claimed the invitation was accepted, but the actual paperwork has not been submitted confirming participation.

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Domestic travel suffers decline

Association of Domestic Travel secretary-general, Yuthachai Soonthronrattanavate, says domestic tourism has also been serious hit this month with package sales down 40% and domestic incentive packages down 20%.

But the reasons are varied ranging from political concerns,  rising fuel costs and air fares and a strong baht that makes overseas holidays competitive.

Bangkok residents are slow to book holidays up-country due to fears of political unrest . Chiang Mai has also lost business due to a decline in the popularity of the Songkran Festival, smog problems, and overall congestion.

Also regional air fares are now competitive with fares to domestic destinations, and due to a strong Thai baht overseas holidays are more attractive.

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Private sector report losses

Private sector tourism leaders report substantial losses during the three-week red shirt raillies and are accusing the Minister of Tourism and Sports of distorting the facts.

Federation of Thai Travel Agents spokesperson, Charoen Wangananont, challenged the Minister of Tourism and Sports “to tell the truth regarding the impact from political unrest”.

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Pre-IMEX road shows

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau invites Thailand’s private sector to join its pre-IMEX road shows to Geneva in Switzerland and London, UK, from 18 to 20 May.

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