Thai tourism momentum weakening

Bangkok Post

a day ago

Thailand's tourism business could be slow for the remainder of the year, as the country faces more intense competition from Vietnam and South Korea, which are offering visa exemptions to more markets, say industry executives.
As well, they say, the domestic co-payment subsidy scheme did not effectively improve revenue for half of the participating Thai hotels.
South Korea recently announced a visa-free policy for Chinese tour groups starting in September, ahead of the Golden Week holidays in October. Vietnam has expanded visa-free entry to 12 more markets, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, bringing the total to 39 markets.
Thailand has an extensive visa-free policy that covers 93 countries, but it will become less effective unless the government addresses the country's unsafe image and promotes new tourism products and attractions more actively, said Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta).
Despite border tensions with Cambodia and the attack on two Malaysian tourists in Bangkok on Aug 8, he said the government has been slow to reassure tourists about safety or take action to instil confidence in prospective travellers.
Negative sentiment about Thailand has spread on overseas social media, said Mr Thanapol, making it very hard to reach the government's goal of 35 million foreign arrivals this year.
Atta plans to hold roadshows next month in Taiwan and India in an effort to restore tourism confidence.
As of Aug 10, Thailand had welcomed 20.2 million arrivals, down 6.9% year-on-year, with 2.8 million Chinese the largest market. However, Chinese arrivals are down about 30%, because of safety concerns as well as growing interest in other destinations.
Vietnam has been a big beneficiary of the shift, recording 12.2 million foreign arrivals during the first seven months, a gain of 22.5% from a tear earlier, driven by 3.1 million Chinese and 2.5 million South Koreans.
Da Nang alone has already welcomed 1 million South Korean tourists.
Morrakot Kuldilok, president of the eastern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), said many tour groups, particularly from Russia, Europe and India, have shifted their trips from Pattaya to Vietnam due to newer, cheaper properties.
A five-star hotel in Vietnam may cost half the price as a similar-tier property in Pattaya, she said.
Ms Morrakot said the government should act faster to combat obstacles, such as the strong baht, which has increased hotel prices by 5-7%.
According to a July survey by the THA of 126 hotels in Thailand, 47% said the domestic tourism co-payment scheme would not increase their revenue, while 28% expected revenue to increase by no more than 5%.
Some hotels in the East forecast a revenue increase of 6-10%, with Chon Buri the top destination, projected to have roughly 48,000 bookings out of the 300,000 allocated for major cities.