Study finds 82% of Thais “confident” in reopening tourism sector

[rooster59]

Study finds 82% of Thais “confident” in reopening tourism sector

By Jack Burton

 

 

As Thailand gradually reopens its borders, new findings from a global study suggests that 82% of Thais are confident that Thailand is well prepared to reopen its tourism and leisure activities, the highest globally. The study also found that tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, and India are all targeting Thailand as their first destination when their countries’ borders reopen.

 

Jointly conducted by leading social research agency Blackbox Research, data provider Dynata, and language partner Language Connect, “Unravel Travel: Fear & Possibilities in a Post Coronavirus (Covid-19) World” examined the sentiments, preferences, and expectations of 10,195 people across 17 countries regarding travel in a post-Covid-19 world.

 

Thailand’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, with foreign tourist revenue contributing around 11% to the national economy. The vast majority (93%) of Thais recognise the importance of the tourism sector to the local economy. In fact, 22% of Thais agree that there is an urgent need for tourism boards, including their own, to promote tourism for economic reasons – the highest globally.

 

Saurabh Sardana, CEO of Blackbox Research, says that both regional interest and citizen sentiment toward restarting local tourism have been encouraging, especially given the country’s phased approach in reopening to business and medical tourists. Sardana notes that establishing traveller’s trust in health and safety protocols is key, and that Thailand needs to capitalise on its success in containing the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

“It is evident from our findings the immense value tourism contributes to Thailand’s economy. As Thailand progressively opens its borders to international visitors, its immediate priority will be to regain traveller confidence, through reinforcing how Thailand has in place strict health and safety measures, keeping everyone safe.

 

“In turn, businesses and the Tourism Authority of Thailand need to work collaboratively and ensure full compliance with these measures, and effectively communicate their efforts through the right channels. Only through stringent health protocols and regular public communication can the tourism industry successfully revitalise itself.

 

“With Thailand’s currently low rate of coronavirus infections, and its strong public health system which played a key role in its tackling of the pandemic, the country is well placed to be recognised on the regional and global stage as a trusted destination.”

 

Amongst Southeast Asian countries, Thailand has the strongest domestic appeal. 91% of Thais are keen to support local travel attractions in the next 12 months – a positive sign given Thailand’s recent investment of 22.4 billion baht (US$720 million) to stimulate its domestic tourism, of which partial financial aid will be provided to local tourists for selected hotels and restaurants throughout the country.

 

Sardana notes that, while the financial aid will definitely play a part in encouraging locals to travel domestically, the government needs to also take into consideration how travel priorities have shifted in response to the pandemic.

 

“Our study has found that price is not necessarily the highest priority for their next trip – this applies to all the key areas such as transport, accommodation, and attraction. Instead, visitor safety measures overwhelmingly ranked top of the list for most Thai travellers.

 

“To complement these stimulus measures, both the government and tourism operators need to work together to ensure safety and cleanliness protocols are met at all times, giving travellers a sense of security as domestic tourism demand begins to kick in. Establishing confidence amongst locals will also help tell the story of trust to a wider international audience.”

 

“What the study has shown us is that the pandemic has unequivocally shifted how we see travel. In order for travel industry players to stay relevant, they need to change the way they approach every aspect and touchpoint in the traveller experience, emphasising safety and rebuilding trust.”

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Chris Koh – Head of Communications
Blackbox Research
Telephone: +65 9765 4388
Email: [email protected]

 

Sharon Tan – Account Manager
Baldwin Boyle Group
Telephone: +65 9793 1532
Email: [email protected]

 

Terence Ong – Account Executive
Baldwin Boyle Group
Telephone: +65 9128 1898
Email: [email protected]

 

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Source: https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/economy/study-finds-82-of-thais-confident-in-reopening-tourism-sector

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2020-08-15

 

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[ezzra]

somebody keeps putting out and let fly these useless and a matter of course information balloons of wishful thinking that is helping no one and for what purpose or ead means no one really knows...

[BangkokReady]

22 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

82% of Thais are confident that Thailand is well prepared to reopen its tourism and leisure activities

Isn't Thailand not really opening up at all, and the longer this goes on the more tourism businesses close and the less prepared Thailand is for reopening?

 

Every business that closes as the borders remain closed, would need money to reopen.  Not to mention that the people running that business may have found employment elsewhere.

 

Kind of sounds like 82% are a little unrealistic.

[Samui Bodoh]

40 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

“With Thailand’s currently low rate of coronavirus infections, and its strong public health system which played a key role in its tackling of the pandemic, the country is well placed to be recognised on the regional and global stage as a trusted destination.”

I think that there is a lot of truth in the above statement; Thailand IS a favoured international destination and I personally know many 'Snow Birds", people who 'winter' here, who want to come back  again in November/December for several months.

 

However, if they have to go through state-mandated quarantine in Bangkok hotels, it ain't gonna happen. And, if it doesn't happen in November/December, Thailand will lose the entire high season and a huge portion of its tourism industry, permanently.

 

The simple fact is that if Thailand wants to rescue its rapidly dying tourism business and thus its entire economy, it will have to open things a bit more to residents and 'long-stayers' as well as shifting to a policy of self-isolation on arrival, monitored by local health volunteers, and combined with other effective public health measures.

 

Thailand CAN manage a high season of residents and 'long'stayers', IF, repeat IF, the government climbs down from a Zero-Tolerance policy to a Managed-Tolerance policy and explains it to the public.

 

Will it happen? Tune in over the next few weeks...

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Samui Bodoh
Lack of Coffee

[Pottinger]

One can read more succinct, critical appraisals of the state of Thailand's tourism industry among readers' comments on various social media channels. This is just another poorly written puff piece, throwing out figures and 'facts', most of which are likely to be contradicted by tomorrow. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

82% of Thais are confident that Thailand is well prepared to reopen its tourism and leisure activities

for thais only right

 

because a week or 2 ago, 90 percent did not want those dirty farangs

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Study finds 82% of Thais “confident” in reopening tourism sector

I think 'Study finds 82% of Thais are desperate for reopening tourism sector'  more appropriate !

[Brunolem]

Just a few weeks ago, another survey showed that Thai people massively opposed the reopening of the borders to tourists. 

 

Go figure... 

 

Having said that, welcoming tourists in the actual state of the world with regards to the pandemic, would guarantee 100% a return of the virus to Thailand, and most probably a trip back to square one, as is happening now in Australia, New Zealand or Vietnam. 

 

So, if it is to open the doors for a month or two, only to shut them back again, and restart the whole lockdown process, thanks, but no thanks! 

[sammieuk1]

Amongst Southeast Asian countries, Thailand has the strongest domestic appeal. 91% of Thais are keen to support local travel attractions in the next 12 months – a positive sign given Thailand’s recent investment of 22.4 billion baht (US$720 million) to stimulate its domestic tourism, of which partial financial aid will be provided to local tourists for selected hotels and restaurants throughout the country.

 

It proves if you pay a Thai to go on holiday he will I suppose ????

[JimGant]

1 hour ago, Pottinger said:

This is just another poorly written puff piece, throwing out figures and 'facts', most of which are likely to be contradicted by tomorrow.

BS. It's well written and contains the core point of getting tourism back on track: Thailand is [manageably] corvid free, now number one since NZ got a setback last week. And since Thailand is a popular tourism mecca (unlike Fiji, another corvid free destination), it promises to be a destination of choice for the world's pent up retirees, with unaffected incomes, waiting with baited breath to once again travel. The only thing needed is to preclude 14 day quarantines upon arrival -- a definite show stopper. Thus, once we get a an effective, near instantaneous test that can be administered prior to entering the jetway, well, why can't we be positive about Thailand's tourism future....?

[rvaviator]

To me this is more like a study were you (the people who pay for the study) say : 

 

I want a outcome that say XYZ ...

 

Now go out a formulate a set of questions that will provide that result ... 555

[Zikomat]

31 minutes ago, JimGant said:

BS. It's well written and contains the core point of getting tourism back on track: Thailand is [manageably] corvid free, now number one since NZ got a setback last week. And since Thailand is a popular tourism mecca (unlike Fiji, another corvid free destination), it promises to be a destination of choice for the world's pent up retirees, with unaffected incomes, waiting with baited breath to once again travel. The only thing needed is to preclude 14 day quarantines upon arrival -- a definite show stopper. Thus, once we get a an effective, near instantaneous test that can be administered prior to entering the jetway, well, why can't we be positive about Thailand's tourism future....?

Don’t you think that being Covid-free goes hand in hand with keeping the borders firmly closed? 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Zikomat

[JusticeGB]

82% of the Government is desperate to keep the covid19 statistics looking good is a more likely statistic. With the hurdles put in place including most countries having compulsory quarantine on return home I don't think many tourists will come to the "Land of Lies" for sometime soon.

[tribalfusion001]

21.6% of GDP was tourism and travel in 2018. https://knoema.com/atlas/Thailand/topics/Tourism/Travel-and-Tourism-Total-Contribution-to-GDP/Contribution-of-travel-and-tourism-to-GDP-percent-of-GDP

 

Desperation to kickstart will become more apparent from October onwards if no high season.

[richard_smith237]

Anyone of us could achieve the poll results we wanted by polling in select area’s of the country and asking targeted questions.

 

Ask 100 vendors on Khao Sarn, Samui or Phuket and the majority will want a return to Tourism. 

Ask 100 office staff in Bangkok and their response will likely be quite different. 

 

Any poll such as this is pointless unless it sources from hundreds of thousands across the nations complete demographic. 

 

 

All of that said: Thailand has to reopen to international Tourism as soon as possible, the continued negative impact is too crippling, particularly for a virus which may have swept through the nation in December without significant media attention until Europe started panicking. 

 

[UnkleMoooose]

This very same website reported only last week that 90% of Thais wanted the borders to remain closed to foreigners. The quality, balance and consistency of reporting on TV is fast approaching that of the Grauniad or the BBC.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Study finds 82% of Thais “confident” in reopening tourism sector

Last month it was almost the opposite, most Thais wanted to keep them out... only T.A.T keep pushing to get them back in.

[SooKee]

Line 1: "As Thailand gradually opens its borders....."

 

Which borders has it opened exactly?

Edited August 15, 2020 by SooKee

[Cake Monster]

3 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

for thais only right

 

because a week or 2 ago, 90 percent did not want those dirty farangs

And those 90% are absolutely Paranoid at the thought of people entering their Country, and possibly spreading Covid19 to the whole population.

Eg One Egyptian Soldier went to a Shopping Mall in Rayong, and there was pandemonium all over the East Coast, and even today, there is continued fall out from that singe incident, which occurred a Month ago.

When the Country was locked down to Foreigners entering back in March, the Government spread so much mistrust of Foreigners, that now the population is in a mindset of xenophobia and in some cases, even open hatred. Too good a job was done back in March, April, and May by the Government Scare Mongerers, that now, they have a real uphill battle to reverse their rhetoric, and make the people believe that Foreigners, if medically fit Etc must be allowed back in to Thailand, and soon.

 

[Pedrogaz]

I think the government played a blinder in closing the borders but it came eight a heavy price tag ie the loss of the international tourist trade.

14 day quarantine is incompatible with international tourism....there is no strategy with allows you to have strong international tourism and 14 day expensive quarantine. Thailand now has a dilemma.....it has to either wait until the infection rate comes down to the Thai level in the countries where the tourists come from which may take 2 months or 12 years. The other alternative is to open the borders asap, let tourists come and to accept a very high rate of infections here in Thailand, i.e. throwing away the good work done already and since the population is almost 100% covid-19 naive and infection will run riot here....this might lead to a huge decline in tourist numbers as well, if Thailand gets a name for being a covid hotspot. 

Now not to mention the fact that Chinese are 40% of Thailand's tourists and many people suspect them of not being honest about the COVID numbers. India already looks like it will end up with the prize for the highest numbers of infected.....so two large tourist customer groups are likely to have or cause problems.

It doesn't look good and if 82% are confident....then I think 82% haven't looked at the problem deeply enough. 

[Scot123]

Rose coloured glasses. Aren't countries finding people coming from Thailand "The Land Of Zero Covid" having Covid? Shhhhhh burst some on here utopia bubble....

[Isaan sailor]

Just make sure hordes of you-know-who, the virus originators don’t come first.

[Thomas J]

I wonder if the same people polled on being confidant in the return of tourism were also included in the poll that 95% of Thais want no foreigners to prevent Covid.  

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1953916/95-say-no-foreigners-to-prevent-2nd-covid-wave-poll

 

[pixelaoffy]

Another meaningless Thai opinion poll. They do like them. 10.a penny 

Edited August 15, 2020 by pixelaoffy

[Almer]

So i must only know the 28%

[Tom9999]

8 hours ago, JimGant said:

BS. It's well written and contains the core point of getting tourism back on track: Thailand is [manageably] corvid free, now number one since NZ got a setback last week. And since Thailand is a popular tourism mecca (unlike Fiji, another corvid free destination), it promises to be a destination of choice for the world's pent up retirees, with unaffected incomes, waiting with baited breath to once again travel. The only thing needed is to preclude 14 day quarantines upon arrival -- a definite show stopper. Thus, once we get a an effective, near instantaneous test that can be administered prior to entering the jetway, well, why can't we be positive about Thailand's tourism future....?

Not possible to test 1 time only.... incubation time will not go away.

Cheap and plenty Quarantine Hotels and Home Quarantine under supervision will allow Long Stay foreigners to return.

[JimHuaHin]

<deleted>.

 

Where is the data?

 

How was it collected?

 

Evidence please!!!

[jonclark]

21 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The study also found that tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, and India are all targeting Thailand as their first destination when their countries’ borders reopen.

 

Whilst undoubtedly good news. Statements like this need a bit more detail, namely how many tourists from these countries - 10, 50, 100, 10'000, 1 million. That has a big impact - If its only a couple from each country -- is it worth reporting? 

[brucec64]

19 hours ago, JimGant said:

BS. It's well written and contains the core point of getting tourism back on track: Thailand is [manageably] corvid free, now number one since NZ got a setback last week. And since Thailand is a popular tourism mecca (unlike Fiji, another corvid free destination), it promises to be a destination of choice for the world's pent up retirees, with unaffected incomes, waiting with baited breath to once again travel. The only thing needed is to preclude 14 day quarantines upon arrival -- a definite show stopper. Thus, once we get a an effective, near instantaneous test that can be administered prior to entering the jetway, well, why can't we be positive about Thailand's tourism future....?

The problem with the current testing is that a test can still be negative while the virus is in the incubation period. They could possible reduce the quarantine period from 14 to 5-7 days with multiple tests. 

 

Europe opened up for tourism too early and now many countries are facing a second round of lockdowns. The lockdowns have a higher negative impact on the total economy than then loss of tourism. Thailand is protecting 85% of the economy by sacrificing 15%. Many expats live in tourist areas and see the impact, but the rest of country is open for business as usual.

[The Barmbeker]

Before I make my statement, I would like to hear Yinn's take on that!

Since Thailand will never be in favor of "foreign idiots" to bring back Covid to "Covid free" Thailand!