Latest news with #ThanetSupornsahasrungsi
Bangkok Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Strengthening baht adds to woes of ailing travel sector
The strengthening baht is beginning to weigh on the fragile tourism sector, which is plagued by recurring security issues, leaving tourists feeling their visits aren't worth the cost. The private sector has called for efforts to restore confidence ahead of the high season. The Tourism and Sports Ministry reported this week foreign tourism receipts of 938 billion baht from 20 million visitors between Jan 1 and Aug 10, below the 2025 target of 1.77 trillion baht. Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, president of the Association of Chonburi Tourism Federation, said the baht rallying against the US dollar by 5-6% this year is a negative factor that already affected short-haul markets such as China, which now flocks to Japan due to the weak yen. He said even though Thailand secured a larger number of long-haul arrivals over the past seven months, if tourists perceive the country as unappealing in terms of value for money, they might pivot to other destinations. "We've consistently felt the impact from a weaker global economy, as tourists from many countries opted to cut overseas travel costs, seek countries where their currency appreciated, or chose to stay at home," said Mr Thanet. He said the government should respond more quickly to address problems, especially safety issues, which are at the core of the problem. Since two incidents occurred in Bangkok -- a shooting spree at Or Tor Kor market last month and Malaysian tourists being set on fire last week -- the government has done little to improve tourist confidence, said Mr Thanet. Given weak arrivals from China and South Korea, he said Pattaya now depends on weekends or long holidays to lift occupancy rates from local travellers. For instance, during the recent Mother's Day holiday, the average occupancy rate in Pattaya surged to 80-90%, but it drastically dropped to 30-40% during weekdays. "We might not immediately feel the pinch from the latest case involving Malaysian tourists, as this period coincides with the school break in China, where tourists already booked their trips and are still travelling as planned, likely resulting in 5% growth this month," said Mr Thanet. "We're more concerned about forward bookings if the government doesn't attempt to restore confidence." He said the co-payment scheme for domestic travel helped increase the local market to some extent, but small and medium-sized hoteliers have not reaped the benefits as much as large hotels due to delayed budget allocation. From the first month of implementation in July, many small hotels had to withdraw from the scheme as they didn't receive payments from the government as scheduled, causing them to bear the costs of servicing those guests in advance. As privileges for major destinations including Pattaya have been fully redeemed, tourism operators urged the government to switch to the more efficient Pao Tang app operated by Krungthai Bank (KTB), said Mr Thanet.
Bangkok Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Strengthening baht adds to Thai tourism sector woes
The strengthening baht is beginning to weigh on Thailand's fragile tourism sector, already plagued by recurring security issues, leaving travellers feeling their visits aren't worth the cost. The private sector has called for efforts to restore confidence ahead of the high season. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports reported this week that foreign tourism receipts between Jan 1 and Aug 10 totalled 938 billion baht. At the current rate, the full-year target of 1.77 trillion baht will not be met. Foreign arrivals to Aug 10 totalled 20 million, down more than 6% from the same period a year ago. The baht has rallied against the US dollar by 5-6% this year, which is a negative factor already affecting short-haul markets, such as China, said Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, president of the Association of the Chonburi Tourism Federation. Many Chinese tourists are now flocking to Japan due to the weak yen, he said. Chinese arrivals to Thailand are down by nearly one-third so far this year. Mr Thanet said that even though Thailand secured a larger number of long-haul arrivals over the past seven months, if tourists perceive the country as unappealing in terms of value for money, they might pivot to other destinations. 'We've consistently felt the impact of the global economy, which prompted tourists from many countries to cut overseas travel costs, seek countries where their currency has appreciated, or choose to stay at home,' said Mr Thanet. He said the government should respond more quickly to eliminate ongoing obstacles, particularly safety issues, which are at the core of the problem. Since two recent incidents in Bangkok — a shooting spree that left six dead at the Or Tor Kor market last month, and two Malaysian tourists being set on fire last week — the government has done little to improve tourist confidence, said Mr Thanet. Given weak arrivals from China and South Korea, he said hoteliers in Pattaya now depend on weekends or long holidays to lift occupancy rates from local travellers. For instance, during the recent Mother's Day holiday, a four-day weekend for many, the average occupancy rate in Pattaya surged to 80-90%, but it dropped to 30-40% during weekdays. 'We might not immediately feel the pinch from the latest case involving Malaysian tourists, as this period coincides with the school break in China, where tourists have already booked their trips and are still travelling as planned, resulting in a 5% growth this month," said Mr Thanet. "We're more concerned about forward bookings if the government doesn't attempt to restore confidence.' He said the co-payment subsidy scheme to promote domestic travel helped increase the local market to some extent, but small and medium-sized hoteliers have not reaped the benefits as much as large hotels due to delayed budget allocation. From the first month of the programme in July, many small hotels had to withdraw from the scheme as they didn't receive subsidy payments from the government as scheduled and had to bear the costs of servicing those guests in advance. As privileges for main destinations including Pattaya have been fully redeemed, tourism operators have urged the government to switch to the more efficient Pao Tang app operated by Krungthai Bank, said Mr Thanet. This request was denied, as the government said KTB was no longer a state bank and using only that bank would discriminate against other private banks.
Bangkok Post
07-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
Malaysia now No.1 source of tourists in Thailand
Malaysia has surpassed China as the largest inbound tourism market for Thailand in the first half of this year, as the latter plunged by 34.1%, while tourism operators say they have little hope that Asian markets will rise in the low season. In the first six months, Thailand welcomed 16.6 million foreign arrivals, dipping 4.6% year-on-year, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry. Only four source markets tallied more than 1 million tourists for the period: Malaysia, China, India and Russia. Malaysia posted 2.29 million arrivals and China 2.26 million, registering declines of 5.59% and 34.1% respectively, followed by the Indian market at 1.18 million arrivals, up 13.8%, and Russia at 1.03 million, a gain of 12.3%. Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, president of the Association of Chonburi Tourism Federation, said the outlook in the third quarter would remain unchanged as the Chinese market might not significantly improve. As the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta) prepares to organise a roadshow to three Chinese cities this month — Chongqing, Lanzhou and Hangzhou — Mr Thanet said it would only stimulate the market for the short term via chartered flights, which are eligible for subsidies from the government's stimulus campaign. In the long run, he said Thailand still faces challenges based on its declining reputation among Chinese travellers, especially the perception that it no longer offers good value for money. 'There are growing complaints about expensive and unpleasant food in the Banthat Thong area and unhygienic street food in Yaowarat," said Mr Thanet. "More price-conscious travellers have shifted to Vietnam, which is more competitive in terms of price.' With European arrivals to Thailand surging by 16.6% to 4.3 million in the first half of the year, tourism operators in Pattaya are more optimistic about the upcoming high season, which is typically the peak period for long-haul markets. He said the Asia-Pacific market would continue to struggle, after declining by 12% to 11.2 million visitors in the first six months, with no positive factors yet to drive a recovery. According to Atta, its three-city roadshow this month is expected to connect 60 Thai tourism operators with 1,000 Chinese tour agents. The association plans to support the Tourism Authority of Thailand with promotion of its chartered flight subsidy scheme, which offers up to 350,000 baht per flight for operators that achieve a load factor of more than 80%.
