Tourism Council of Thailand is recommending a shift in travel promotions to markets that are less sensitive to Bangkok’s civil disturbances.
The national council, that draws experts from the private sector to represent the industry in business dialogues with the government, recommends the industry eases the throttle on promotions in China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong where the biggest declines have been registered since mid-December 2013.
Booking setbacks have been recorded in Chinese speaking markets particularly Hong Kong, which raised the security alert on Thailand to the highest level.
Visits from mainland China dropped in mid-December when protests in Bangkok turned violent. The trend continued in January as the shutdown protests intensified in Thailand’s capital.
India has been identified as a market that could supply more tourists during the crisis as travellers are more accustomed to protests and disturbances. But the downside is a decline in spending power in that market, while efforts would be needed to ease visas rules.
Thai Hotels Association president, Surapong Techaruvichit, said the average occupancy for Bangkok’s hotels dropped 20% last month, but hotels in and around rally sites, especially Ratchaprasong and Silom areas, reported even bigger declines.
However, tourism to Samui Island, Phuket and Chiang Mai, remains high with hotels enjoying 85% occupancy. Chinese tourists are visiting destinations outside of the capital and this in some instances has raised occupancies in January to February into the high 90s’.
But experts warn that as the protests in the capital continue, visits to up country destinations will also decline.
“You have visitors switching from Bangkok to other Thai destinations, but eventually the trend will be to switch to other countries in the region, no matter how we look at it Thailand could lose up to 3 to 4 million tourists, this year, if nothing is done to resolve the protests,” a hotel investment consultant based in Bangkok told TTR Weekly.
Source: http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2014/02/indian-tourists-best-bet-for-thailand/