COMMENT: Marketing push after May’s ‘sizeable fall in tourism’

With the Thai Junta now into its third week of governance, the dust is beginning to settle, with the focus on the very important tourism industry. As was reported from the Thai Travel Mart late last week, January to April inbound  figures were encouraging for most parts of the world and indeed European visitor numbers are on the rise. The coup having taken place in the middle of May, and with it a nationwide curfew, it would not be surprising to see trade drop off. No official figures are available as yet from the UK but anecdotal information would suggest a sizeable fall.

Well that’s the bad news. The good news is that virtually all observers have agreed that the current military presence on the streets is very low key  and it would appear to be very much business as usual. Without wishing to get into a democracy debate one could argue, and indeed the director at the Tourist Authority of Thailand does, that if the level of unrest had been allowed to continue unabated the negative effect on visitor numbers both short  and long term would have been even greater.

The official glad tidings started  this week with the announcement that the once nationwide curfew will now restricted to the larger urbanised areas such as Bangkok and  the night time shackles have been taken off in the resort areas of  Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya , Hua Hin, Cha-am, Krabi, Phan-nga, Hat Yai, Ko Chang and Ko Phangan.

In addition a plan to restore international confidence and indeed domestic holiday traffic  has been discussed by  the NCPO (National Council for Peace and Order) with Thai tourism and an emergency fund from government coffers, rumoured to be in the region of  £40million,  has been allocated for the purpose .

This will be achieved by supporting hoteliers in creating lower  rates plus a series of marketing campaigns within target overseas markets. The situation in the resort areas appears to be reasonably stable but it is the capital city of Bangkok where hotel occupancy levels are at a four year low. Much of this money therefore will be used to support ailing capital city providers  to offer more competitive rates, initially to Thailand residents only, with the entry rate for five star accommodation estimated to be in the region of £145 per night.

The long and short of it is that if you are thinking of visiting or selling Thailand there is probably never a better time to do it. The Baht is weak against most major currencies, hotel rates are at one of their lowest points for several years, airline capacity is comprehensive and competitively priced , the food is still brilliant, security is of a high level and the famous welcoming smile is beaming. The Thais that bind are still strong.