THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: One of Thailand’s peak tourism industry bodies, the Thai Hotels Association (THA), has said it will be seeking more financial assistance packages from the government early in July because many operators are still suffering from the recent political turbulence.

Prakit Chinamourphong, president of the THA, said hoteliers have received fewer bookings for July and August than usual, because many foreign tourists still lack confidence in the kingdom’s stability.

According to Mr. Prakit, hotels across the country are running at an average occupancy rate (AOR) of just 40 percent, with hotels in destinations such as Chiang Mai having an AOR of just 29 percent, while hotels along Patong Beach in Phuket are running at 50 percent, with 20 to 30 percent typical at other parts of the island.

Mr. Prakit said that while in Pattaya and Bangkok AORs are averaging 40 percent, a 2 percent increase in last year, it is doubtful the country will be able to lure back the number of foreign tourists it ordinarily receives by the third quarter so additional stimulus packages are necessary.

The current condition of the Thai tourism industry was put into perspective by Apichart Sankary, honorary adviser to the Federation of Thai Tourism, who said that though tourism from January to June had grown by 2 to 3 percent, in real terms it had in fact fallen by 10 percent.

Mr. Apichart said that while the total number of tourist arrivals recorded by the Association of Thai Travel Agents might have grown by 20 percent over the same period last year, it needed to be remembered that in the same period last year the country was suffering the fall-out from the 2008 closure of five airports, including Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi AIrport and Done Muang, by the People’s Alliance for Democracy, aka the “yellow-shirts”.

“If you compare the current six month period with the same period in 2008 you will see inbound foreign tourist arrivals are down about 10 percent. Thailand lost about one million tourists in the first half due to the political conflict, and it is likely it will lose another 700,000 to 800,000 over the rest of the year.”

On Monday tourism officials said they would like to see 15 million visitors this year and hoped to have significant growth in 2011, but Mr. Apichart dismissed this saying, “I strongly believe the Tourism and Sports Ministry will never reach this year’s target of 15 million international tourists”.

In an attempt to revive the tourism industry the THA will launch a short-term domestic campaign via a tourism fair late in July, with hotels throughout the country offering a 50 percent discount in a “Buy One Get One Free” campaign, with customers able to take advantage of the offer from the start of August through the end of October.

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for July 2, 2010