Illustrative image (Photo: Bangkok Post) Bangkok (VNA) – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has cut itsestimate for international arrivals to Thailand to 33 million in 2020, down 3million from the latest target and nearly 7 million compared to the record figureof 39.8 million recorded last year.
The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) reported foreign tourists using ATTAmember services from January to February 20 was 500,232, a decrease of 40.7percent. During February 1-20, the number slid up to 74.1 percent to 90,908tourists.
Domestic tourism is shaky as hoteliers experienced weaker demand from corporatemeetings and seminars that were cancelled as fears of the virus escalated.
Suksit Suvunditkul, chief executive of Deevana Hotels and Resorts andvice-president of the Thai Hotels Association's southern chapter, said hotelsare receiving more cancellations from government agencies and private companies.
Destinations that target the meeting and incentive market such as Krabi have anoccupancy rate of around 65 percent, down from 85-90 percent in a normalsituation, while hotels in Phuket that target the domestic market saw guestsdrop by 80 percent.
The Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry will propose a package of measures to thecabinet, including relaxing debt payments of employees in the tourism businessfor their houses, credit cards, cars and personal loans; cutting the excise taxon fuel for public buses and travel boats; funding online travel agents toreduce or waive their commissions for six months; and developing programmes todrive operators' competitiveness.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) predicted that Thailand is amongthe countries most affected by the COVID-19. The council believes that theepidemic will cost the world's tourism industry at least 22 billion USD due to fallingspending by Chinese tourists.
The Thai government forecast that the country's tourism industry will loseabout 30 percent of Chinese tourists in the first quarter of 2020. The figurecould rise to 50 percent if the epidemic continues to be a concern in the nextquarter. In 2019, Chinese tourists spent about 18 billion USD, accounting forone third of total spending by foreign visitors in Thailand./.
The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) reported foreign tourists using ATTAmember services from January to February 20 was 500,232, a decrease of 40.7percent. During February 1-20, the number slid up to 74.1 percent to 90,908tourists.
Domestic tourism is shaky as hoteliers experienced weaker demand from corporatemeetings and seminars that were cancelled as fears of the virus escalated.
Suksit Suvunditkul, chief executive of Deevana Hotels and Resorts andvice-president of the Thai Hotels Association's southern chapter, said hotelsare receiving more cancellations from government agencies and private companies.
Destinations that target the meeting and incentive market such as Krabi have anoccupancy rate of around 65 percent, down from 85-90 percent in a normalsituation, while hotels in Phuket that target the domestic market saw guestsdrop by 80 percent.
The Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry will propose a package of measures to thecabinet, including relaxing debt payments of employees in the tourism businessfor their houses, credit cards, cars and personal loans; cutting the excise taxon fuel for public buses and travel boats; funding online travel agents toreduce or waive their commissions for six months; and developing programmes todrive operators' competitiveness.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) predicted that Thailand is amongthe countries most affected by the COVID-19. The council believes that theepidemic will cost the world's tourism industry at least 22 billion USD due to fallingspending by Chinese tourists.
The Thai government forecast that the country's tourism industry will loseabout 30 percent of Chinese tourists in the first quarter of 2020. The figurecould rise to 50 percent if the epidemic continues to be a concern in the nextquarter. In 2019, Chinese tourists spent about 18 billion USD, accounting forone third of total spending by foreign visitors in Thailand./.
VNA
