Thai travel trade express concerns over political conflict

By Satish G. | eTN Asia
 
Thailand's tourism business organizations have expressed concern over an extended political conflict, indicating that the tension could adversely affect their business.
 

The development emerged as the South East Asian nation had recently indicated that it could declare a state of emergency if violence breaks out during protests. The voice for the immediate resignation of Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been getting stronger. 
 
According to local media, while there have been no cancellations of inbound package tours, the MICE market is beginning to suffer the fallout. A media report indicated that corporate customers, which normally regard Thailand as a favored destination for MICE activities, are changing their minds.

"The MICE market is slowing down," Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents told media. "These people have been in the ‘wait and see' mood, and some have postponed their plans." The industry has been nervously monitoring advance bookings to measure the repercussions of the turmoil, Apichart added.

"People are not sure about the future, so they feel they'd better hold on to their money," Apichart told media. "I think tourists have these kinds of problems in their home countries as well, and they've got used to it," said Apichart. "But if this thing drags on, and if violence breaks out, there might be a problem."

According to local media, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is following the situation closely but is also pushing ahead with promotional campaigns, such as Grand Invitation 2006, aimed at attracting foreigners and Thai nationals living abroad to the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne.
 
According to another report, Thai Airways International Plc said that so far there has been no decline in passenger arrivals to Thailand despite the ongoing rally to oust Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from office. "The national carrier's cabin factor (number of seats filled) in January and February was high at around 80 per cent, compared to January and February's cabin factor last year of 69.2 percent and 70.7 percent respectively," Thai Airways said, according to Nation Multimedia.
 
Thai Airways also denied media report that it had suspended some of its routes to benefit budget airline Thai AirAsia, a unit under the umbrella of Shin Corp), a holding company founded by Thaksin.