webfact Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Thailand may see 1 million tourism job losses in first quarter after new outbreak By Kitiphong Thaichareon FILE PHOTO: Immigration officers stand in front of an empty arrivals hall at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International airport amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Thailand, June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand could see a million more jobless tourism workers in the first quarter after its latest wave of coronavirus infections, while relief measures are urgently needed to support the struggling sector, a private tourism group said on Tuesday. The Tourism Council of Thailand will later on Tuesday propose to the government measures including a 50% co-pay scheme to retain workers, utility bill cuts, soft loans and a two-year debt moratoria, said its president, Chamnan Srisawat. The proposed co-pay scheme will help some 800,000 people keep their jobs, he told a briefing. "We don't want to leave these people. When COVID-19 is over, tourists will definitely return, so please help us survive for a while, maybe for three months" Chamnan said. More than one million people had already lost their jobs and the number could double to two million in the first quarter due to the new spread, he said. The latest outbreak has seen its overall cases more than triple in the past six weeks, reaching 63 of the country's 77 provinces. Tourism should recover in the second half of 2021 and foreign visitor numbers could reach 10 million this year if the government removes a two-week quarantine for those tourists inoculated against COVID-19, said Vichit Prakobgosol, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents(ATTA). "If tourists can return with no quarantine, we will definitely see 10 million this year. If not, even if we let them in free of charge, nobody will come," he said. The group will wait two months to gauge vaccinations globally before asking the government to adjust the quarantine requirement, Vichit said. The state planning agency predicts 5 million foreign arrivals this year after the number slumped 83% to 6.7 million in 2020 due to the impacts of the global pandemic and Thailand's ban on foreign tourists and international commercial flights. (Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Martin Petty) -- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-26 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post YetAnother Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 14 minutes ago, webfact said: If tourists can return with no quarantine, we will definitely see 10 million this year. If not, even if we let them in free of charge, nobody will come," The core,the heart of the matter 27 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Olivie Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) 18 minutes ago, webfact said: "We don't want to leave these people. When COVID-19 is over, tourists will definitely return, so please help us survive for a while, maybe for three months" Chamnan said. 3 months? L0L They will need to survive AT LEAST until november this year before they see some tourists and maybe until november 2022 before much more tourists come back. 18 minutes ago, webfact said: "If tourists can return with no quarantine, we will definitely see 10 million this year. If not, even if we let them in free of charge, nobody will come," he said. Wow the first one who is smart enough to realize that ! Edited January 26, 2021 by Olivie 27 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GeorgeCross Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 9 minutes ago, Olivie said: They will need to survive AT LEAST until november this year before they see some tourists and maybe until november 2022 before much more tourists come back. Wow the first one who is smart enough to realize that ! his paycheck doesn't rely on him ignoring that elephant! 6 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post welshguy Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) "If tourists can return with no quarantine, we will definitely see 10 million this year. If not, even if we let them in free of charge, nobody will come," he said. At last! Somebody with a little common sense.......Only trouble is, its only one person saying this! I desperately want to come back to Thailand...Im "hoping" later this year............with every passing day...Im getting less and less hopeful...............With more people like this guy talking some sort of sense, maybe ...just maybe! You really have to feel though, for the average Thai, who has lost their jobs etc, at least we in the west, generally speaking anyway, are not left to starve or to be homeless. Edited January 26, 2021 by welshguy spelling 18 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ctxa Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, welshguy said: "If tourists can return with no quarantine, we will definitely see 10 million this year. If not, even if we let them in free of charge, nobody will come," he said. At last! Somebody with a little common sense.......Only trouble is, its only one person saying this! I desperately want to come back to Thailand...Im "hoping" later this year............with every passing day...Im getting less and less hopeful...............With more people like this guy talking some sort of sense, maybe ...just maybe! You really have to feel though, for the average Thai, who has lost their jobs etc, at least we in the west, generally speaking anyway, are not left to starve or to be homeless. The way I see it, is that if you let 10 million non-vaccinated tourists at this point, inevitably there's gonna be a COVID outbreak, everything will become a mess and sooner or later tourists will also stop coming due to the outbreak. And in the end you will be worse than you initially were. (cuz you'll have none or few tourists + a local economy destroyed by the outbreak) Trust me, I also wanna go back to China, and I haven't yet, because I don't wanna be quarantined for 14 days (and possible an extra 14 at home afterwads), just thinking about it seems like being in hell, lol, (plus I can't really complain much about life in Bangkok ????). But at the same time I completely understand why they do it. And our only hope seems to be the vaccine, hopefully everything will be much better for the second half of this year... Edited January 26, 2021 by ctxa 17 3 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Golden Triangle Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 So just taking it a stage further then, suppose all quarantine are suddenly dropped, millions of tourists come flooding in, great the economy is saved, Thailand is saved, then you start to get reports of people beginning to show signs of infection but have been mingling with the locals and other tourists, what then ? How do you manage that ? 5h!te creek and no paddle come to mind. Don't say it can't happen, the poor old British guy, 61 years old, tested negative in UK, got here Christmas day, now dead RIP. I realise many people from all over the world want to get back here, but not at any cost, for now quarantine has to remain in place, sorry. 10 1 3 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kwasaki Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 Tourism already lost many jobs with the 1st outbreak never mind the 2nd. I predict end of 2022 before tourism gets on its feet. 12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bkk6060 Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) Anyone who wants to do away with the 14 day quarantine is either probably a selfish failed desperate business owner or ignorant. How many have shown up positive in quarantine thus if not there, spreading their sickness and disease among others. Edited January 26, 2021 by bkk6060 12 1 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post RichardColeman Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 UK official unemployment hit 5% today (26th), UK has 9,000,000 furloughed and being paid by the government, Obviously - in my opinion - UK unemployment will be near 8/9% very shortly - cue UB40. With Thailand relying on 20% GDP from tourism their unemployment rate surely has to be 10-15% easily by now and will only get worse. They may be able to survive a year on savings and begging relatives, but when we start hitting 2 years and still no work the unwashed masses will be far more vocal than they are now. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GinBoy2 Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 It's always very hard to figure out the real unemployment figures since so many Thai's work in the 'grey' economy. I'd speculate that the grey economy is one that has been particularly hard hit, and those numbers are no where near being counted. How many sex workers, roadside food vendors, and the like, never been on any government records are recorded? I think they used to report official unemployment at something less than 1%, yet anyone who has lived in Isaan knows that was total BS. So what the real carnage is, look with your own eyes because the Government numbers won't come even close to the truth 24 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny1990 Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Loss of tourism jobs hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzaa09 Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Yet, few are considering the real disastrous implications if Thailand were to open up freely. A lot of risk. It might be up to a year before "touristy" things return to normal. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post eeworldwide Posted January 26, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2021 I think you’re all missing the point, with all due respect. COVID-19 is not going away. Fact. people from the west Are NOT in a financial position to be taking long haul flights anywhere soon, plus the vaccination schemes are only just starting. plus many western countries including Britain are implementing long quarantine procedures for when one returns to their borders. 2021 is over in terms of any thought of tourists returning to Thailand in hordes. it’s not going to happen. Probably 2024 will see some kind of return, but it will be a drastically different world by then. 15 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wombat Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 15 hours ago, GeorgeCross said: ignoring that elephant! The elephant that is being ignored is which countries are allowing their residents out for tourism? 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GinBoy2 Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 46 minutes ago, eeworldwide said: I think you’re all missing the point, with all due respect. COVID-19 is not going away. Fact. people from the west Are NOT in a financial position to be taking long haul flights anywhere soon, plus the vaccination schemes are only just starting. plus many western countries including Britain are implementing long quarantine procedures for when one returns to their borders. 2021 is over in terms of any thought of tourists returning to Thailand in hordes. it’s not going to happen. Probably 2024 will see some kind of return, but it will be a drastically different world by then. I'm totally on board with this. I've spouted the opinion that at least the Western tourist trade isn't returning for a couple of years. Now let's discount the sex tourism trade, but regular families aren't going to travel for a year or two. Firstly there is the economic havoc this has caused to family finances, then there is the fact people are just scared to travel. I work for an airline and domestic travel is running about 50% of what it should be, so give me a break that folks are gonna take their kids on an 18 flight to Thailand! It's pie in the sky to think anything is going to even remotely approach normality for the next 24 months 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDfella Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 8 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said: I'm totally on board with this. I've spouted the opinion that at least the Western tourist trade isn't returning for a couple of years. Now let's discount the sex tourism trade, but regular families aren't going to travel for a year or two. Firstly there is the economic havoc this has caused to family finances, then there is the fact people are just scared to travel. I work for an airline and domestic travel is running about 50% of what it should be, so give me a break that folks are gonna take their kids on an 18 flight to Thailand! It's pie in the sky to think anything is going to even remotely approach normality for the next 24 months I think you will find that on forum threads from last year said basically something similar but with a slight modification. Pandemics in the past changed the way people lived so it isn't surprising that this one will too. Of course the effects of each pandemic depends on technological and travel facilities of the period but I doubt very much that we will see the previous 'norm' again. We will adapt to a 'new norm' and get used to it...until the next pandemic. The high number of casualties and the many that have/will lose their jobs is tragic and very sad indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Classic Ray Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 I am concerned about the social unrest and increase in crime that may result from the realisation that the good times are not returning soon, and there is little will or action to support the poorest people in society from a government inexperienced and ill-equipped to deal with the long-term economic effects. Even the most experienced Western governments are struggling. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Golden Triangle Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 4 minutes ago, Classic Ray said: I am concerned about the social unrest and increase in crime that may result from the realisation that the good times are not returning soon, and there is little will or action to support the poorest people in society from a government inexperienced and ill-equipped to deal with the long-term economic effects. Even the most experienced Western governments are struggling. Especially when expats are seen generally by the indigenous population to be mega rich and ripe for picking, as I stated recently in another thread, Ya Ba'd up, Lao Khao fuelled, unemployed, skint locals turning to crime to get by, not a pretty sight. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pravda Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 I'm not sure about other countries, but I read how Canadians have saved billions during pandemic and just keep bidding more and more on real estate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hotchilli Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 16 hours ago, webfact said: Thailand could see a million more jobless tourism workers in the first quarter after its latest wave of coronavirus infections, while relief measures are urgently needed to support the struggling sector, a private tourism group said on Tuesday The government has a stark choice to make, either help-out the tourism sector directly [not via crazy schemes that offer discounts to those working on a salary], or pay out unemployment benefit for years to come. If these struggling tour businesses go under Thailand has no other employment options to offer them. Males will be jumping off the nearest bridge, females will be selling on the streets. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Franko666 Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 16 hours ago, GeorgeCross said: his paycheck doesn't rely on him ignoring that elephant! Maybe now Thais are skint they will now appreciate International tourists and what they bring to the Thai economy. Ok ok, just joking! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BestB Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 All good ideas and thinking but I am afraid he is not correct . It is not only about Thailand removing the quarantine but also home countries of the tourists removing one as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elkski Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 I think this crisis was made worse by those in charge continuously touting the easy $ would be flowing soon. 3 my nths 5 months, from nally gave up permanently on 2020 but 10 million coming 2021. They should have set up training. Giving out money to poor. But for Xmas what did they do? Gave free tolls to encourage travel. This 50/50 had how much corruption? I say follow the money. Who had contracts on fuel but with no demand they are surely meeting with their suited monkey buddies. Perhaps a few of those cool watched. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomchaiCNX Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Those who work in tourism know that these numbers are unreal and very low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Dart12 Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 Nothing will change worldwide until the fear mongering about the disease ceases. Covid is here to stay. Like flu's and colds, everyone will eventually get it or had it and not even known. Vaccines will only work for one strain. And only temporarily. You can catch the same covid more than once. Now that US election is done, fear mongering in US is already lowering. The WHO has changed test levels as to who is truly infected and who is dying OF covid and not just with covid particles in body. So they are reporting lower deaths and infections 5 days after new regime in. So maybe there is hope on the horizon for change soon? Idk. But I'd hazard to guess it won't really change until all the higher ups have lined their pockets to their desire. As long as 900 People Infected Today! Worse yet! is a headline by politicians and media , instead of "9 people died this month out of 70,000,000, covid crisis behind us!" ...you can't have free travel. Not til the narrative changes. 4 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave moir Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 3 hours ago, zzaa09 said: Yet, few are considering the real disastrous implications if Thailand were to open up freely. A lot of risk. It might be up to a year before "touristy" things return to normal. Make that 2/3 years and you maybe near the mark! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnarth Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 eeworldwide at least there are two of us sheep that see it that way, also the governments are now s---scard of what the banks are going to do when they say the problem is over, and already there is a class distention between politicians and public in the wearing of masks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post spidermike007 Posted January 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2021 The true unemployment numbers are, and will continue to be staggering. Most agree tourism made up to 20% of the overall economy, when you take into account all of the ancillary businesses. Plus, exports are down, regardless of what they say. Manufacturing is way down, and investments were dropping long before Covid. So was the quality of the average tourist. The problem are many, and they were not being addressed, nor are they currently being addressed. Prayuth is largely to blame for this, as he was obsessed with the optics of a lockdown, even if it was only one province. This has led to thousands of cases, the loss of millions more jobs, and an utter demolition of the domestic tourism industry. As far as international tourism goes, it is anyone's guess when that will start to revive, and how many years it will take to even get back to 20% of the former levels. I am guessing no more than 5 to 8 million tourists annually, even four or five years from now. Major changes need to be made, if Thailand wants to continue to enjoy the cash cow of tourism. Travelers these days simply have too many choices. Creativity is required. Progress needs to be made. Thailand cannot continue to be one of the least progressive nations on earth, and expect foreigners to tolerate that degree of ignorance. These seeds were planted over a decade ago. The hapless army has accelerated the process dramatically. If Thailand had a qualified health minister, and a slightly intelligent tourism minister, they would stop this nonsense, and realize no tourism program requiring quarantine will ever work. Period. No sacrifices are being made or contemplated. No luxury or wine taxes are being reduced. Nothing is being done to address prior problems, or elevate the experience. Combined with a bloated baht, inconsistent and draconian immigration policy, major international egg on the face from recent decisions pertaining to the youth and opposition protestors, no way forward politically, horrendous air quality and environmental policies (or lack thereof), and a truly regressive dinosaur government, Thailand is losing its appeal for many. And the longer they wait, the more Thailand WILL be forgotten. Plus, as usual the lack of vision, wisdom, skill and talent, prevents them from realizing that their primary market of low to middle income Chinese, Malaysians, and Indians have been financially decimated by Covid. Plus, changes in attitudes regarding long haul travel, alternative travel spots and more. Expect 300,000 tourists in the 12 months following the end of restrictions. 2 million the following year, and no more than 5 million tourists a year for several years after that. This is realistic. International tourism here will never be the same, post Covid. The Thai army. Moving Thailand backwards, and inflicting untold pain on it's people. Time to go, guys. The people need competency, and they are speaking loudly now. 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CygnusX1 Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 1 hour ago, Pravda said: I'm not sure about other countries, but I read how Canadians have saved billions during pandemic and just keep bidding more and more on real estate Ditto for Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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