tourism
- World News
Fewer Chinese tour groups, more independent travellers to reboot SE Asia travel
Hoping that Chinese tourism is going to ride magically back into Thailand on the back of a gleaming red dragon and save the tattered tourism sector may be precipitous. Of course there are so, so many unknowns even the regular travel writers and consultants are scrambling to forecast a way forward. For Thailand, the ban on international flights hasn’t even…
- World News
Regional travel bubbles, the short-term tourism solution
As nations slowly get their heads around the first outbreaks of Covid-19, the attention is now pivoting to re-opening businesses. And re-opening borders for tourism. But, at least for the short term, the future of tourism will probably be regional travel bubbles – loose agreements between neighbouring nations to allow (reasonably) free travel between two or three countries. Staying isolated…
- Tourism News
Minister proposes 300 baht tourist levy
It’s going to be challenging enough for both the Thai tourism industry and the travellers to get Thailand’s tourist wheels in motion again without a new levy being added as well. But now, the Tourism and Sports Ministry says they’re considering a new 300 baht tax from every foreign arrival. The reasoning is that the new levy would cover “pandemic…
- Covid-19 News
Major slump in tourists expected this year
It’s not looking to good for Thailand’s tourism industry. This year will have the lowest numbers the country has seen in over a decade, and that’s assuming there’s some reopenings for international travel sometime later in the year. With the coronavirus pandemic freezing up international travel, the number of foreign tourists are expected to fall by 65% this year, according…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket’s tourist-driven economy faces crisis – Phuket Chamber of Commerce
Phuket’s tourism-driven economy is facing what one city official calls a crisis, comparing the economic impact to what it was after the 2004 tsunami. Phuket’s economy has become increasingly focused on tourism and hospitality over the past 2 decades. The Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Thunusak Phungdet said at a meeting last Thursday that Phuket has no income right now.…
- Business News
Business recovery in the Covid-19 era
As some countries begin to tentatively look to reboot their economies in a Covid-19 world, what does the future hold for business? Nation Thailand reports today on an extensive Bank of Thailand survey that examined the impact of the pandemic on four business sectors and what might happen next. Things are looking a bit brighter for the manufacturing and retail…
- Business News
Will Pattaya bar customers want ID tracing and bar girls with masks and gloves?
OPINION Why do people travel to Pattaya? If it’s for the legendary bar scene, they’re going to be in for a surprise if proposed Covid-era measures are adopted. Likely it’s not going to be the ‘Pattaya’ they were expecting, or had been accustomed to in the past. Social distancing (surely a phrase to be added to dictionaries from this year),…
- Covid-19 News
PM seeks compensation packages for tourism operators
PM Prayut Chan-cha, today posted a picture of himself in a meeting with the Thai Tourism Business Association on his official Facebook page, with the following message… “The other day, I had a meeting with small and medium sized business associations to listen to the situation they are in and asked them to give suggestions to me directly. In addition…
- Thailand News
Thailand News Today – Thursday, April 30
Thailand Covid-19 update: 7 new cases, no new deaths The CSSA has announced this morning that Thailand had only 7 new cases of the Covid-19 nationwide in the previous 24 hours. 3 of the new cases were imported, meaning that they came from Thai nationals returning to the country from overseas. All were immediately quarantined. Only 4 cases came from…
- Covid-19 News
6 million unemployed in tourism alone – a stark outlook for Thailand’s tourist industry
More accurate predictions are starting to emerge as the full impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak in Thailand start to become clearer, and we still don’t have the shops open yet. Reports from the UN’s International Labour Organisation, in collaboration with the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, have already made stark predictions about the problems that lay ahead for…
- Covid-19 News
Vietnam flings open the doors, Thailand and Malaysia peek through the curtains
Peeking through the curtains and testing the water, or flinging wide the door and going for it. Or somewhere in between. Some South east Asian countries are starting to make cautious preparations to lift lockdown and travel restrictions. But this isn’t a competition – each country is having to look at the myriad of local issues as they factor in…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand turns to China to revive post-Covid tourist economy
The Covid-19 pandemic has crushed Thailand’s tourism sector, long considered a lifeline for the nation’s already battered economy, as numbers of foreign visitors have dropped below even the worst predictions plunging 76.4% in March from last year after a 42.8% drop in February. For an economy that derives 12-14% of its gross domestic product from tourism, receipts, the impact of…
- Covid-19 News
Tourism minister, TAT hope for a return of limited domestic travel
For weeks, interprovincial travel has been heavily restricted if not outright banned due to the Emergency Decree announced on March 24 to combat the spread of Covid-19. And although the National Security Council is expected to present a proposal on Monday to extend the Decree, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakan expects the government to ease some measures and allow…
- Covid-19 News
March tourist arrival numbers worse than predicted
It’s no secret that the Covid-19 outbreak has been disastrous for Thailand’s tourism sector, long considered a vital lifeline of the nation’s already battered economy. Data released by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports today showed foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand slumped 76.4% in March compared to a year earlier. This follows a 42.8% drop the previous month, as the…
- Tourism News
The China Bounce – are the Chinese packing their bags ready to come back to Thailand?
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com The results of a comprehensive new survey of consumers in Mainland China’s first tier cities concludes that 53% of respondents would like to travel internationally sometime this year. Citing the opportunity, the most popular months for trips abroad for the remainder of the year are, specifically, August, October and December. Thailand is one of the…
- Tourism News
Back to business – time for Thailand’s tourist industry to get ready
OPINION by Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com Tourism is a vital part of Thailand’s economy. And as the country emerges into the post-Covid world, getting tourists back to the country will be an essential springboard to the rest of the Thai economy. None of that will be automatic or easy as international travel has been severely disrupted and will take months,…
- Covid-19 News
Travel and tourism in the Land of Smiles – 12 predictions
OPINION by Andrew Wood Casting our eyes into the crystal ball has never been so difficult with so many varied issues clouding the post-coronavirus future. For Thailand, the future of world and domestic travel has never been so critical as tourism drives much of the Thai economy. Will the tourists come back? Will they be allowed back? When? And under what…
- Covid-19 News
Currency will be a key driver in Phuket’s (eventual) tourism recovery?
OPINION by Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com In the lead-up to the Covid-19 crisis one constant complaint by Thailand’s hotel sector has been the strength of the Thai Baht. Zeroing in specifically on the Mainland Chinese market, the rapid demise to the island was in part triggered by the tragic boat accident in mid-2018, along with a number of other country-wide negative…
- Covid-19 News
International visitor numbers down 35% January-March, exceeding worst predictions
International visitor numbers to Thailand from January to March dropped by 8.5 million, or 35.3% year-on- year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. You can be sure the specific numbers for March would have been a lot worse. The biggest decline, unsurprisingly, was in Chinese visitor numbers, which dropped by 59.4% compared to 2019, to around 2.4 million.…
- Covid-19 News
Chinese tourist packing their bags to come back to Thailand
Some groups of Chinese say they’re ready to pack their bags and start travelling again. And, astonishingly, Thai tourism officials say they they’re preparing for a return of Chinese tourists! Chinese tourists groups say they expect to resume their travels in April as the novel coronavirus (Covid19) infections start to subside in China. Thai tourism officials say they are aiming…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket Covid-19 ‘updates’
The spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus prompted tourism industry leaders in Phuket this week to support moves to cancel or postpone mass events across the island. All official Songkran Thai New Year festivities in the southern resort island’s Patong district have already been cancelled, along with the annual Phuket Bike Week, usually the biggest motorcycle event in Asia. Even the…
- Covid-19 News
The Thai Tourism Ministry hopes for Covid-19 to abate
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said yesterday that if the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus continues, it will be a “big issue” nationally not only in terms of public health but also the tremendous loss of tourism revenue. However if the outbreak can be contained by then end of next month, the ministry expects more than 36 million tourists…
- Tourism News
Old “falangs” are Pattaya beach vendors’ lifeline in coronavirus downturn
Old expats and Thais are the only thing keeping Pattaya beach vendor in business, through the coronavirus tourism downturn. One vendor, Pha Aree, who has been renting beach chairs and umbrellas for 30 years, says she’s survived more than her share of crises, the tourism downturns during the 2004 tsunami, SARS, political strife and numerous military coups. She’ll get through…
- Covid-19 News
Tourism officials ponder moving Songkran to July, boosting domestic tourism
Joint ventures with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) are trying to solve worst case scenarios of losing over 1 trillion baht in revenue and 10 million in inbound guests to celebrate Songkran. The TAT has set a optimistic target of 172 million domestic trips this year, generating 1.13 trillion baht in revenue.…
- Covid-19 News
Tourism Authority of Thailand clarifies “self quarantine” situation
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has posted a notice to clarify the “self-quarantine requirements” of all visitors coming to Thailand from “risk area” countries, relating to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. The clarification comes after two days of confusing announcements coming out of the Thai Public Health Department. On Tuesday night a document was released on the Thai Public Health Minister’s…
- Tourism News
Thai tourism ministry proposes 5 billion baht in tourist stimulus packages
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says he will propose new domestic travel stimulus packages valued at 5 billion baht this Friday. The Minister says the aim is to cushion the impact of the coronavirus for the tourism service sector across the country. The Minister says that domestic tourism is “the priority during this difficult time. The government should implement…
- Tourism News
Nong Nong forced to lift weights and perform for tourists at a Phuket zoo – VIDEO
A monkey has been filmed lifting weights and doing other ‘tricks’ for tourists at an unnamed zoo in Phuket. Footage was shot by people recording the video for PETA, the global animal rights group, of the monkey being forced to lift weights and do press-ups as entertainment for the island’s tourists. The monkey is an indigenous Macaque species and named ‘Ning…
- Tourism News
Chiang Mai to see passenger numbers fall by 40% in wake of virus fears
The numbers at Chiang Mai’s international airport will fall 40% to 3.5 million in the first six months of this year if the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus drags on until the middle of the year. Chiang Mai airport deputy director Thananrat Prasertsri said late last week that flights to the airport during the period January 1 to February 25 dropped…
- Thai Life
No monkeying around: coronavirus fears mean monkeys in the South are going hungry
It’s not only humans being affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak; monkeys in the southern province of Songkhla, usually dependent on food from tourists, are facing a shortage. Tourists from Singapore and Malaysia, normally abundant in Songkhla, are cancelling tours amid worries over the outbreak, resulting in far less daily food for the monkeys there. Local fruit vendors, taking pity…
- Tourism News
Once bustling, Chiang Mai tourist areas are now deserted
Thai news agency MCOT has become the latest media outlet to bemoan the devastating effect of the coronavirus (Covid-19) on Thai tourism, after their reporters went to the once thriving area of Nimmanhaemin. Online blurbs about the area still describe it as having “buzzing dining and nightlife, hip cafes, fashion boutiques and a weekend craft market.” But a month after…
