BANGKOK — The tourism sector is hardest hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak and operators need more assistance from the government, according to their council.
Members of the Tourism Council of Thailand discussed the impacts and possible solution at The Bazaar Hotel on Ratchadaphisek Road.
TCT chairman Chairat Trirattanajarasporn said the impacts of the novel coronavirus were the worst compared with those from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and natural disasters.
“This time, tourism plummets and the impacts reach all corners of the tourism sector… Normally hotels with 700-800 rooms would be fully booked at this time of the year but now the booking is zero. Also impacted are coach operators and workers in the sector,” he said.
According to him, the impacts started when China stopped its outbound tours and they are growing. Chinese people form the biggest group of visitors to Thailand.
To cope, tourism-related operators would have to take good care of remaining tourists and find new markets to compensate for the absence of Chinese visitors, Mr Chairat said.
He acknowledged government assistance through tax and lending measures but said that they would partially help the operators. A moratorium on loan interest payment would be the best assistance for operators for the time being, Mr Chairat said.
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