Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Thailand is on top of the tourism shopping list for Asian travellers, when the borders open

Published

8 months ago

Saturday, August 15, 2020

Thailand is on top of the tourism shopping list for Asian travellers, when the borders open | Thaiger

“Fear & Possibilities in a Post Coronavirus World”. That’s the name of a new study jointly prepared by Blackbox Research, Dynata, and Language Connect. For ‘fear’ and ‘possibilities’, there are plenty of both as Thailand and Asia emerge from 6 months of battling and containing Covid-19, with more knowledge and better handling of outbreaks.

The global study indicates that residents of Asian countries want to travel to Thailand when travel eventually opens back up. The study examined the sentiments, preferences, and expectations of just over 10,000 people across 17 countries.

Tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and India are preferred Thailand as their first destination when their own’ borders reopen and they can travel again.

At this stage Thailand is unlikely to reopen to commercial flights and leisure travel for the rest of 2020 with comments from both the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the country’s Civil Aviation Authority in the past week confirming the situation.

82% of Thais are confident “Thailand is well-prepared to reopen its tourism and leisure activities”, when it does.

But 90% of Thais don’t want tourists to return until a vaccine or cure for Covid-19 becomes available. That is indicative of the risk-averse Thai government and the other surveys around the country that show Thais want to avoid a 2nd wave of the disease at all costs.

Thailand, based on figures from the travel industry, will likely finish 2020 with around 50% of its inbound tour operators either bankrupt or unable to continue trading. Hotels and online bookings services will not be much better off as they shore up cash flow with loans and the country’s GDP retracts by 8.1%

Thailand’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, with foreign tourist dollars contributing around 11% to the national economy. When you add all the peripheral businesses that hinge on the flow of tourism, then the contribution to the Thai GDP from direct and indirect tourism, is close to 20%.

• 93% of Thais recognise the importance of the tourism sector for the local economy.

• 22% of Thais agree that there is an urgent need for tourism boards, including their own, to promote tourism for economic reasons.

• 91% of Thais are keen to support local travel attractions in the next 12 months

Saurabh Sardana, Blackbox Research’s chief operating officer, says that amongst south east Asian countries, Thailand has the strongest domestic appeal. The Thai government’s recent investment of 22.4 billion baht (around US$720 million) as a stimulus to domestic tourism, provides e-cash for local tourists at selected hotels and restaurants throughout the country.

“Our study has found that price is not necessarily the highest priority for their next trip – this applies to all the key areas such as transport, accommodation and attractions. Instead, visitor safety measures overwhelmingly ranked top of the list for most Thai travellers… transport 43%, accommodation 46% and attractions 53%.”

Across the survey international leisure travel, at least in the short term, is not a high priority for most people with 44% of respondents still keen to avoid international holidays. Of those the Japanese (32%), Filipinos (42%), New Zealanders (43%) and Australians (52%) were the least interested to take long-haul trips at this time.

Australia and Japan surveyed as the two most popular destinations for Asian travellers, and Spain is on the top of the list of European travellers.

The countries whose tourism appeal has taken the biggest hit during the pandemic, according to the survey, are China, Italy, and the US.

• 80% are willing to pay more for safer accommodation.

• 74% are open to paying a higher premium for travel insurance in exchange for protection against viral outbreaks.

• 76% of respondents indicated that their preferred travel destinations would be countries that offer more “contactless experiences”.

• 66% prefer to travel in their own vehicles for road trips between cities or countries, compared to travelling on a plane.

SOURCE: TTR Weekly

📱 Download our app on Android or iOS for instant updates on your mobile
📧 Subscribe to our daily email newsletter
👍 Like/Follow us on Facebook
🔔 Subscribe to or Join our YouTube channel for daily video updates

8 Comments

Perceville Smithers

Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 9:13 am

Wonder when tourism finally open up again, is the industry banking on people being so anxious and desparate that they’ll pay rediculous prices.

Reply
Toby Andrews

Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 10:37 am

Yes they are banking on it.
But people will find other places to go that are a lot cheaper.
For instance here in Cambodia I pay 50 cents for a glass of beer.
$9 a night for a room, and I could have one for $6.
Thailand’s greed was killing tourism even before the virus hit.

Reply
- Rinky Stingpiece
  
  Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 2:10 pm
  
  This is perhaps linked to high and rising levels of corporate debt and personal debt, growing as the economy grew since the 2014 oil price effects and the shift towards China. Prices looking more and more like prices in the tourism source countries, and not reflecting real value
  
  Reply
Bobby m

Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 2:06 pm

Agree with both.

When and if it does open. First there will be so many hoops to jump through that it won’t be worth the effort, like test 72 hours before flying, fit to fly certification, expensive test on arrival. More more more.

That will end when they realise nobody is coming, then it will be accommodation using multiple reasons to try and recover everything from the unnecessary losses of income they have incurred.

Again that will last, until they see other Asian countries filling up whils they remain mostly empty.

Only after the realism hits, will things start to become anything like they were before. But by then, it could be way too late, because often when people change their habits they realise that in fact. It’s better. Then they are lost to Thailand permanently.

Reply
Tajinder Singh

Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 5:09 pm

The thaiger webiste just spreadind the wrong news all over the world the pm of thailand has not publish any news for that and neither civil avaiation authority. So please be calm because the thai PM know if tourism no open the 2.5 million people who make money from tourism will comense sucide because of debt that they cant pay. And the good news for tourist that embassy are open now and government doing all possible measure on offline basis but not annouced yet the original date for open borders for tourist. Please just wait for the month october as originally planned firsy week of october the land of thailand again welcome tourist.

Reply
Mike Frenchie

Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 10:18 pm

I am sure that Thai Airways will be delighted to know that so many tourists are eager to come to Thailand.

Hope there will be some planes and hotels left at that date?

Time will tell…

Reply
- Graham White
  
  Sunday, August 16, 2020 at 9:10 am
  
  They couldn’t care less. They are quite happy doing nothing and getting paid. As long as this goes on the government has more excuse to bail them out.
  
  Reply
Joseph McKee

Monday, August 17, 2020 at 11:53 pm

This “Dirty Foreigner” is having no part of it. True nature was displayed during the past few months. I’ll head east with my money.

Reply

Up Next

Police pinch “Penguin” ahead of student rally

Don't Miss

Cambodian transgender woman arrested for human trafficking in Sa Kaeo

Find more SE Asian News courtesy of Thaiger.

Broke? Find employment in Southeast Asia with JobCute Thailand. Rich? Invest in real estate across Asia with FazWaz Property Group. Even book medical procedures worldwide with MyMediTravel, all powered by DB Ventures.

Read more headlines, reports & breaking news in Thailand. Or catch up on your Thailand news.

Thaiger

If you have story ideas, a restaurant to review, an event to cover or an issue to discuss, contact The Thaiger editorial staff.

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Covid UPDATE: 1,547 new infections, restrictions start after midnight tonight

Published

33 mins ago

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Tim Newton

Covid UPDATE: 1,547 new infections, restrictions start after midnight tonight | Thaiger

Today the CCSA has announced that there are 1,547 new infections around Thailand, a slight drop from yesterdays’ 1,585 reported new cases. Today’s additional infections takes the total number in Thailand to 40,585 since the start of the pandemic. We will add to this story when more figures and provincial totals become available.

All but 3 of today’s newly reported infections were local – 1,544.

Bangkok – 279

Chiang Mai – 140

Chon Buri – 99 (155 cases were reported by Chon Buri officials this morning which will go into tomorrow’s national totals)

Prachuap Khiri Khan – 58

Samut Prakan – 27

All other provinces listed here…

Covid UPDATE: 1,547 new infections, restrictions start after midnight tonight | News by Thaiger Te CCSA reports that 11,916 people are still under care and supervision in Thai hospitals or field hospital facilities. 99 people have died, a local death rate of 0.24%.

Covid UPDATE: 1,547 new infections, restrictions start after midnight tonight | News by Thaiger At midnight tonight new restrictions come into force for red and orange zone provinces. Here’s a list of the red zone provinces.

1. Bangkok
2. Chiang Mai
3. Chon Buri
4. Samut Prakan
5. Prachuap Khiri Kan
6. Samut Sakhon
7. Pathum Thani
8. Nakhon Pathom
9. Phuket
10. Nakhon Ratchasima
11. Nonthaburi
12. Songkhla
13. Tak
14. Udon Thani
15. Suphanburi
16. Sa Kaeo
17. Rayong
18. Khon Kaen

FULL LIST OF PRECAUTIONS (starting at 1 minute past midnight Sunday, April 18)

Across all provinces…

• Closures of schools, all nightlife venues, pubs and clubs, karaoke bars and massage parlours

(except for international schools running exams)

• No events can have more than 50 people

Provincial red zones (listed below)…

• Dining-in allowed until 9pm (but can do takeaway until 11pm)

• Serving of alcohol banned

• Shopping centres and fitness centres to be closed by 9pm

(Sporting fields, exercise places, gyms and fitness clubs must close at 9pm)

• Convenience stores, markets, supermarkets must be closed by 11pm

Everywhere else…

• Dining-in allowed until 11pm

• Serving of alcohol banned

• Shopping centres to be closed by 9pm

Additionally, people are being discouraged from traveling to “Red Zone” provinces. Businesses are also being ‘asked’ to allow staff to work from home or introduce other measures to minimise risk of infection at the workplace. These workplace and travel ‘advisories’ will certainly be ramped up if the number of daily cases continue to rise.

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

No Covid-19 national curfew or lockdown yet for Thailand

Published

38 mins ago

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Neill Fronde

No Covid-19 national curfew or lockdown yet for Thailand | Thaiger

FILE PHOTO: The empty streets of last year's lockdown will not return just yet.

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha announced that there will be no national curfew or lockdown in Thailand as of yet, despite a growing third wave of Covid-19. More than 10,000 people have been infected this month as clusters that started in Bangkok nightlife venues rapidly spread throughout the entire country.

PM Prayut yesterday called for calm from the public while saying that people need to remain vigilant in taking safety precautions against the virus. He worries that people will not follow social distancing protocols and avoid gatherings. On the bright side, mask-wearing is said to be around 90% compliance.

PM Prayut said that during the initial Covid-19 outbreak, extreme measures and lockdown were necessary, and pointed to global praise for the curbing of Covid-19’s first wave in Thailand. Acknowledging the pandemic safety restrictions damaged the economy and will affect low-income workers again now, PM Prayut said he was hurt to have to impost restrictions, but that Thai people should be proud of how well the country did originally and work again to comply with safety measures to bring the current outbreak under control.

While the current vaccine rollout plan includes 61 million jabs over the course of 2021, the government is still looking for ways to expand and accelerate vaccinations, perhaps by importing the Russian Sputnik-V or US Pfizer vaccine in the near future. In the meantime, while full lockdown was not ordered for Covid-19, new restrictions were enacted for the whole country and the provinces listed as red zones.

Across all provinces…
- Closures of schools, all nightlife venues, pubs and clubs, karaoke bars and massage parlour (except for international schools running exams)
- No events can have more than 50 people
- Dining-in allowed until 11 pm
- Serving of alcohol banned
- Shopping centres to be closed by 9 pm
Provincial red zones…
- Dining-in allowed until 9 pm (but can do takeaway until 11 pm)
- Serving of alcohol banned
- Shopping centres and fitness centres to be closed by 9 pm (Sporting fields, exercise places, gyms and fitness clubs must close at 9 pm)
- Convenience stores, markets, supermarkets must be closed by 11 pm

Additionally, people are being discouraged from travelling to “Red Zone” provinces. Businesses are also being ‘asked’ to allow staff to work from home or introduce other measures to minimise the risk of infection at the workplace.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

Thailand

Nightlife venues ordered to close after midnight tonight, nationwide ban on serving alcohol

Published

3 hours ago

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Ann Carter

Nightlife venues ordered to close after midnight tonight, nationwide ban on serving alcohol | Thaiger

Health officials have announced new Covid-19restrictions targetting Thailand’s hardest-hit, or red zone, provinces. The restrictions, which will start tonight after midnight, include ordering all nightlife venues to close. Restaurants cannot serve alcohol and those dining-in must leave no later than 9pm. If you want to get take-away, you must do so before 11pm, unless you are in a province listed as an “orange zone.”

This is the 3rd consecutive day of the country reporting a record-breaking amount of infections. After saying that no curfew would be imposed, Taweesilp Wissanoyothin of the national pandemic task force said all gatherings should be kept to no more than 50 people, schools should avoid holding in-person classes, restaurants can no longer serve alcohol, nightlife venues must remain closed and hours limited at a number of businesses where people gather in the nation’s COVID-19 “red zones.”

At midnight tonight new restrictions come into force for red and orange zone provinces. Here’s a list of the “Red Zone” provinces.

59 “Orange Zones” restrictions include:

Restaurants can open for diners until 11pm.
Bans on serving on-site alcohol.

Nightlife venues ordered to close after midnight tonight, nationwide ban on serving alcohol | News by Thaiger

FULL LIST OF PRECAUTIONS (starting at 1 minute past midnight Sunday, April 18)

Across all provinces…

• Closures of schools, all nightlife venues, pubs and clubs, karaoke bars and massage parlours

(except for international schools running exams)

• No events can have more than 50 people

• Dining-in allowed until 9pm (but can do takeaway until 11pm)

• Serving of alcohol banned

• Shopping centres and fitness centres to be closed by 9pm

(Sporting fields, exercise places, gyms and fitness clubs must close at 9pm)

• Convenience stores, markets, supermarkets must be closed by 11pm

Everywhere else…

• Dining-in allowed until 11pm

• Serving of alcohol banned

• Shopping centres to be closed by 9pm

Nationwide, all nightlife venues – such as bars, brothels and karaoke parlors – must remain closed until at least April 30. Gyms and fitness centers must close by 9pm. Convenience stores and night markets must close from 11pm to 4am.

The measures are imposed for at least 14 days or two weeks starting Sunday (April 18) before the task force will “consider” if the measures should be implemented further.

Today, the CCSA has announced that there are 1,547 new infections around Thailand, a slight drop from yesterdays’ 1,585 reported new cases. Today’s additional infections takes the total number in Thailand to 40,585 since the start of the pandemic.

All but 3 of today’s newly reported infections were local – 1,544.

Bangkok – 279

Chiang Mai – 140

Chon Buri – 99 (155 cases were reported by Chon Buri officials this morning which will go into tomorrow’s national totals)

Prachuap Khiri Khan – 58

Samut Prakan – 27

The CCSA reports that 11,916 people are still under care and supervision in Thai hospitals or field hospital facilities.

Covid UPDATE: 1,547 new infections, restrictions start after midnight tonight | News by Thaiger

Additionally, people are being discouraged from traveling to “Red Zone” provinces. Businesses are also being ‘asked’ to allow staff to work from home or introduce other measures to minimise risk of infection at the workplace. These workplace and travel ‘advisories’ will certainly be ramped up if the number of daily cases continue to rise.

SOURCE: Coconuts