Public
servants and private business owners join hands to try and boost spread
the word that Pattaya isn’t flooded and is still a preferred holiday
destination.
Manoon Makpol
Area political and tourism industry officials are
scrambling to save the region’s high season by reassuring travel
companies and foreign embassies that Pattaya has not been adversely
impact by Thailand’s floods.
At a recent press conference, Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol
Kunplome, Banglamung District Chief Chawalit Saeng-Uthai, Tourism
Authority of Thailand Pattaya office Director Athapol Vannakit, Sinchai
Wattanasartsathorn, vice president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism
Association and representatives from the Eastern Thai Hotels
Association, U-Tapao Pattaya International Airport, Pattaya Tourist
Police and Nongprue said they all are mobilizing to get the word out
that Pattaya is open for business.
Chawalit said that while Pattaya and Chonburi have
set up shelters to take as many as 10,000 flood evacuees, the area can
still easily accommodate a high-season share of tourists. Roads,
airports, tourist attractions and entertainment venues are all open as
normal, he said in an effort to counter foreign news broadcasts that
have “caused tourists to perceive that all of Thailand is flooded.”
Athapol said flood fears have resulted in a 45.35
percent drop off in international tourist arrivals since flooding began.
Thus, he said, regional organizations are rushing to explain to
embassies and the media that Pattaya is unaffected. Forty nations have
issued advisories against travel to some or all of Thailand.
He acknowledged that at the end of October nearly 100
percent of Pattaya’s 70,000 hotel rooms were booked, due a migration of
flood-affected Thais moving to dry land. But those stays are short-term,
he said, and there will be plenty of rooms for the rest of the high
season.
TAT and Pattaya officials say high-season business is
in jeopardy and Athapol said renewed publicity efforts are needed as TAT
press conferences to date have not worked.
