Coronavirus is worse than the tsunami - and the state is downplaying the impact, claim tourism operators

[mickey rat]

17 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

The slowdown began well before the Corona. Thailand is simply not that interesting anymore, with the high Bath and increasingly hostile immigration, the spiral will continue down even after the Corona issue is gone.

Not to mention the abhorrent air quality conditions! A constant and stunning reminder of total and complete incompetence of the current regime since taking power. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by mickey rat

[mfd101]

The economic lesson in all of this is that you need to diversify your collective sources of income, of which in Thailand's case tourism is just one and Chinese tourism just one part out of that.

 

Australia is learning this hard lesson currently, with some 30% of its exports going to China, and now heading down. They're now starting to work on India as a developing export market, but of course that's a long-term task(!) ...

 

A key point to remember is that 'service exports' includes inwards tourism, domestic educational services and financial services. Will the Thais learn the lessons & act on them?

[geisha]

Thailand lost its shine a few years back now. The strong baht and the corona virus is just the cherry on the cake.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

1 minute ago, mfd101 said:

domestic educational services and financial services. Will the Thais learn the lessons & act on them?

are you suggesting the thai should start offering educational and financial services to the chinese?

[bert bloggs]

Talking to my friends and relatives in the UK ,yes the Virus is indeed the cherry on the cake ,Thailand is not doomed ,but it does seem to have slipped way down the scale of places to visit ,

[Nathan N]

Thailand needs to follow suit with many other countries to ban China tourists. Catering to China, is going to turn everyone away. Looks like Thailand is wide open for Chinese still...even discounting visas. Need to walk cautiously to give confidence to other tourist virus safety. 

[mfd101]

Just now, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

are you suggesting the thai should start offering educational and financial services to the chinese?

No. Just reminding people that 'exports' is not just things shipped from Thailand to some other country. 'Exports' includes services provided in Thailand to anyone who pays for them with non-Baht currency.

[Nathan N]

Just now, bert bloggs said:

Talking to my friends and relatives in the UK ,yes the Virus is indeed the cherry on the cake ,Thailand is not doomed ,but it does seem to have slipped way down the scale of places to visit ,

I agree. The welcome mat open for Chinese is very attractive to the rest of the world to make Thailand a destination. 

[sahibji]

tour  operators most certainly need some form of support from the government to tide over this difficult period. yes the impact of COVID-19 is greater and serious as the duration is uncertain ( already pretty long).

[samsensam]

1 hour ago, James26 said:

There is no going back to normal. A new normal is on the way and IMO, it entails much lower tourism revenues for years to come. Thailand must diversify and it starts with EDUCATION and discarding old traditions that are counterproductive to growth. It's possible to preserve culture without holding on to things that don't work.

 

generalised unsubstantiated statements. where is the evidence to support long term downturns in tourism/economy to any country following previous virus outbreaks? where is evidence to support any of your statements?

[sahibji]

6 minutes ago, geisha said:

Thailand lost its shine a few years back now. The strong baht and the corona virus is just the cherry on the cake.

sorry you mean "the straw that broke the camel's back"?

[tifino]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

and the state is downplaying the impact, claim tourism operators

but the 'i want it all, i want it now' syndrome means the operators 'want' thje downp[laying to continue for as along as possib;le...

[sahibji]

5 minutes ago, Nathan N said:

Thailand needs to follow suit with many other countries to ban China tourists. Catering to China, is going to turn everyone away. Looks like Thailand is wide open for Chinese still...even discounting visas. Need to walk cautiously to give confidence to other tourist virus safety. 

i still feel it is better to diversify rather than become dependent on a particular country. in times of need, tourists will still keep on coming from other sources.

[SupermarineS6B]

It seems as though this virus came at the right time for the powers that be, a very handy scapegoat, otherwise they'd have to blame themselves for destroying tourism in Thailand by the insane immigration restrictions........  I'm one of those that can remember Thailand when it was packed out with tourists, mostly westerners and mostly travelers and back packers.......... But that was in the day when immigration just waved you through without todays gestapo interview.......  It's changing though, i think the penny's finally dropped .........  

[Henryford]

The Thais made their Chinese bed, let them sleep in it. The Europeans have gone where they are welcome.

[sahibji]

1 hour ago, Rabbi said:

I hope the government do nothing to assist them, other than sorting out the immigration hate on farangs, and stop bringing in stupid regulations that penalise guesthouses that cater to farangs.

 

Agree - Leave them to their own devices, as they did when they were making a killing!!

rabbi there are some times when some form of help is necessary.

[pixelaoffy]

Believing gov is dangerous occupation.  Believing this Thai Gov on anything is frankly fantasy world

[sammieuk1]

Im inside swampy right now and can confirm its been wiped out 99% nothing like i have seen before Damascus by the look of it????

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

The reality is that income from tourism is down 70% at least, said the operators.

And there's the truth, not the T.A.T spin!

[phuketrichard]

19 hours ago, madmitch said:

Some people have short memories.

 

I can only refer to Phuket and the south but tourism was decimated after the tsunami and the beaches were empty.

 

In 2020, despite coronavirus, Phuket's beaches are still packed.

 

A minor blip in comparison!

Agree a bit.  The south was dead for a year after the Tsunami BUT bangkok, pattaya,CM were ok.

 

Packed beaches here now? not exactly true, busy, but far from packed and the roads seem empty of the tour bus's and hundreds of mini vans

[fulhamster]

13 hours ago, patongphil said:

Ablutions on the beaches!!!

They have them in Pattaya - ever looked at the colour of the water in the bay ?????

[johnarth]

what I do not understand is the Thai baht has jumped straight back to where is was before this <deleted> started, do not tell me they are at hight ,booked out hotels etc. already,

[TheAppletons]

2 minutes ago, johnarth said:

what I do not understand is the Thai baht has jumped straight back to where is was before this <deleted> started, do not tell me they are at hight ,booked out hotels etc. already,

Politely disagree.  THB/USD is right now at 31.66/1.  

 

At the beginning of January it was 29.8/1.  

 

In the language of currency markets, that's a huge drop in a short amount of time.

[saengd]

3 minutes ago, johnarth said:

what I do not understand is the Thai baht has jumped straight back to where is was before this <deleted> started, do not tell me they are at hight ,booked out hotels etc. already,

The US Dollar increased in value, it's now near 100%, THB is soft linked to the value of the Dollar.

 

https://www.investing.com/currencies/us-dollar-index

[saengd]

2 minutes ago, TheAppletons said:

Politely disagree.  THB/USD is right now at 31.66/1.  

 

At the beginning of January it was 29.8/1.  

 

In the language of currency markets, that's a huge drop in a short amount of time.

I suspect that poster is referring to the GBP/THB exchange rate.

[TheAppletons]

3 minutes ago, saengd said:

I suspect that poster is referring to the GBP/THB exchange rate.

  Yeah, except that isn't a "real" exchange rate.  It masks the fact that the GBP is not particularly strong right now.

[saengd]

Just now, TheAppletons said:

  Yeah, except that isn't a "real" exchange rate.  It masks the fact that the GBP is not particularly strong right now.

Agreed.

[ChipButty]

Tourism was going down before this happened in Phuket last low season was not good and so far this next one is looking bad right now

[skorp13]

What a bunch of crud. The tsunami killed something like 250,000 unsuspecting people in a matter of hours, the corona virus is no where near that and there is plenty going on to stop that from happening. more useless propaganda!

[saengd]

1 minute ago, ChipButty said:

Tourism was going down before this happened in Phuket last low season was not good and so far this next one is looking bad right now

It depends on whether you think Phuket is representative and whether you think TAT's tourist numbers are false.