Too much discounting will damage tsunami destinations

CIMTIG & PATA Debate Special: Discounting holidays ‘too heavily’ to  countries affected by the Indian ocean tsunami will damage the destination’s  reputation an industry debate has heard.

Tourism Authority of Thailand marketing director for leisure, Richard Hume says his  organisation is encouraging tourists back to areas most severely affected by the  tsunami, such as parts of Phuket, by marking down prices on accommodation and  entrance to national parks. However, he said prices shouldn’t go too low.

“We have worked hard in the UK and Ireland to keep Thailand an aspirational  destination and we want to keep it like that,” he said. He added that the five star  boutique market is still one of the fastest growing areas for Thailand.

Mr Hume was speaking at Tuesday’s CIMTIG and PATA- organised debate in London  on the recovery for tourism destinations after the tsunami.

Somak Holidays general manager Far East was also on the panel and launched a  vehement attack on heavy discounting.

“You don’t want to mark the destination down by price. There’s a fine line between  stimulating business with price and giving people the impression there is something  wrong with the destination,” he said.

“Some operators even used this terrible event to drive down prices,” he added,  saying it was very difficult to get prices up again.

Kuoni product director Francis Torrilla was also on the panel. He was in Sri Lanka on  Boxing Day and after describing his experiences told the audience that after  encouraging charitable donations, getting tourists back was the best way to help the  country’s tourism industry recover.

“Whenever there has been an incident like this one of the quickest ways to get  people back is by price.”

“The airlines and hotels aren’t making money and tour operators are making little or  none because of discounting,” he said.

He said Kuoni, for whom Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are historically the  top selling destinations, has released a brochure of selected regions affected by the  tsunami and on some holidays the margin is £10, half of which is being donated to  local communities.

“People wouldn’t come if we were selling these holidays at brochure price,” he said.

Also speaking at the event was Malaysia Airlines UK sales manager Anton Grossman  who said the airline had “taken a firm stand” and only waived cancellation charges  up to January 10 because Malaysia has been less damaged by the tsunami than  other regions. He added that by continuing to the waive the charges it would have  “confirmed people’s misperceptions about the size of the disaster.”

However, once a respectable amount of time had passed he said Malaysia Airlines  began discounting flights to stimulate demand. “If the price is right people will  book,” he said.

Mr Grossman also gave example of operators that were offering up to ten nights in  Malaysia for £399 to attract holidaymakers.

Report by Ginny McGrath