|
Thai travel highlights 2008
Sirima Eamtako, TTG Asia
2008 started healthily on the back of a rosy 2007, but ended
sickly with the fall of finance. TTG Asia’s Sirima Eamtako picks the 10
key events that shaped Thailand as a travel destination in 2008.
1. Shutdown: Anti-government protestors knee-capped the Land of
Smiles by laying siege and shutting down the country’s two main airports
- Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang - in late-November. The protestors also
used cars and trucks to block the only highway with access to
Suvarnabhumi.
Thousands of travellers were stranded and the industry left in tatters
by the week-long shutdown, which is expected to chop foreign arrival
numbers by 50 per cent in 2009 to about seven million.
2. Industry’s brave face: Displaying the industry’s trademark
resilience in the face of the crisis, Thailand’s travel trade made it
its first priority to help stranded passengers.
Accordingly, government agencies, airlines and private sector
associations raced against time to ensure tourists’ safety and welfare.
While the shutdown did inconvenience travellers, it is likely that many
will also remember the hospitality extended by the industry.
3. Travel advisories: Thailand declared emergency rule twice this
year, prompting 23 countries to issue travel advisories and warnings
against travel to the destination.
As a result, foreign arrivals slumped 21 percent in September and 12
percent in October after emergency rule was declared in early September.
Although Thailand lifted emergency rule after two weeks, it is likely
that November’s airport shutdown will ensure the spate of advisories and
warnings stay in place as long as Thai politics remains in turmoil.
4. MICE ambition: Thailand is back to square one with its
ambitious dream to be the top meetings and exhibitions destination in
Southeast Asia by 2009, a title it earned as recently as 2007 based on
the number of meeting delegates received in each country.
The closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport prevented the kingdom from hitting
this year’s target of 947,600 MICE visitors and 77 billion baht revenue
by about 33 percent for both counts, respectively, and looks set to
knock Thailand off its perch.
5. Thailand on sale: Reeling from internal and external
challenges, Thailand’s travel trade puts the country on sale with low
season rates that are between 20 and 50 percent cheaper than high season
offers or with a range of incentives from free room nights and discounts
at spas and F&B outlets to drum up new bookings.
6. Sticker shock: Soaring oil prices gave local operators and
Thai carriers a severe case of sticker shock.
The managing director of one of Thailand’s first tour companies, Mr Kusa
Panyarachun, described eye-popping oil prices as “the worst crisis I
have faced in more than 60 years of operating this company”. Rising pump
prices meanwhile forced Thai Airways International (THAI) to drop its
long haul nonstop daily Bangkok-New York service and reduce its nonstop
daily Bangkok-Los Angeles to five a week and operated via Osaka from
October.
Longhaul frequencies were trimmed further in the national carrier’s
winter timetable while medium haul routes were boosted.
7. THAI lands at Samui: THAI finally launched services to Samui
in February, ending long-standing criticism of Bangkok Airways’ monopoly
on the lucrative route. THAI’s twice-daily Bangkok-Koh Samui flights and
298 seats, on top of Bangkok Airways’ more than 3,600 seats daily from
domestic and international destinations, will go a long way towards
resolving tour operators’ gripes of limited capacity and high air fares
hobbling Samui’s potential.
8. Hotel expansion: A sharp expansion of Thailand’s room count is
in the pipeline. On top of the 60 hotels and 10,000 rooms that came on
stream this year, another 50 hotels offering 8,000 rooms are due to open
in key destinations, including Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai
and Hua Hin, in 2009. The new projects will push the country’s room
inventory to 300,000, excluding serviced residences and guest houses.
With the expansion coinciding with political turmoil, the industry
predicts Thailand will have the lowest room rate in the region next
year.
9. Full-house in Phuket: Phuket came roaring back from the
December 2004 tsunami at the start of the year, with tour operators
moaning about the likelihood of shrinking allotments and rising room
rates for the 2008/09 high season.
But that was before the global economy fell into a swoon and emboldened
anti-government protestors shuttered Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Now the trade in Phuket is bracing for a long and difficult 2009.
10. Losing Phornsiri: The country is poised to lose one of the
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)’s best governors just as the
industry enters a treacherous patch, due to a deepening global economic
crisis and marathon anti-government protests at home. By law, TAT
governors cannot be more than 60 years old and Ms Phornsiri Manoharn
turns 60 in March next year.
Confirming plans to step down, Ms Phornsiri, the chairman-elect of PATA
for 2008/09, told TTG Asia she would concentrate on the chairmanship
going forward.
|
