Government urged to clarify tourism marketing plan ahead of high season
Following the government’s decision to re-open a further 10 provinces to international visitors from November, tourism operators are calling for a clear plan ahead of high season. Yesterday, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration agreed a number of measures, including reducing curfew hours in the dark red provinces, allowing a number of businesses to re-open, and extending the emergency decree until the end of the month. At the same meeting, it was agreed to reduce quarantine to 7 days for fully vaccinated arrivals from October and to re-open Bangkok and another 9 provinces from November.
However, from Friday, tourists will be able to travel directly to Krabi (including 2 new destinations of Klong Muang or Tubkaak) Phang Nga, and Koh Samui. Tourism operators in these areas are urging the government to introduce a clear marketing strategy for foreign visitors, with Charintip Tiyaphorn from the Tourism Council of Krabi pointing out that such plans take time to generate demand. From October 31, flights are scheduled to resume from Singapore and Malaysia to Krabi, while flights from Scandinavia will resume from November 1.
“After getting an approval, the marketing campaign will need at least a month to generate demand, so operators and foreign travel agents want to hear an official announcement to manage high season bookings.”
Pongsakorn Ketprapakorn from the Tourism Council of Phang Nga says a clear re-opening strategy will allow operators to launch marketing campaigns and give foreign tourists time to plan their trips. There is currently confusion surrounding the planned re-opening, including questions such as whether or not tourists can take day trips to another province during their first 7 days.
Meanwhile, Ratchaporn Poolsawadee from the Tourism Association of Koh Samui says hotel occupancy on the island has been stuck at around 15% recently. He’s hopeful the re-opening plan will increase demand for holidays on the island, but says this will also depend on important factors such as flights from Russia resuming.
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SOURCE: Bangkok Post
