First off, we had the Tourism Authority of Thailand talk about promoting Ayutthaya heavily once the floods recede while at the same time over the weekend put out false and misleading statements about the flooding in Ayutthaya.

Today, 11 Oct 2011, the TAT news site of the Tourism Authority of Thailand has posted a one-day old update (dated 10 October).

Ubolratana Dam Khon Kaen

I don’t place a lot of credence in the current Tourism Authority of Thailand TAT News “update” since it is already 1 day old and again tries to paint a rosy picture of a serious natural disaster.

No mention of over 250 deaths due to the floods and landslides.  No mention of the shelters set up to take care of those that had to flee their households. No mention of dams that have given way to the over-abundance of rain water.  No mention of any warning that Bangkok could be flooded in the next week.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand only mentions what it wants to mention.

Over the past several weeks, seasonal rains that are heavier than usual have resulted in widespread flooding in Thailand. While the flooding is having some impact on tourism, key tourist destinations and attractions throughout Thailand have not been affected by the floods and most remain open. The floods are mainly affecting the provinces in central, north and northeast Thailand. Provinces in the south have not been affected by the floods.

I guess Bangkok, located in Central Thailand, doesn’t have any key tourist destinations and attractions. Maybe I should buy a map for the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Major tourist destinations such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Kanchanaburi, Ratchburi, Pattaya, Ko Chang, Rayong, Phuket, Krabi, Trang, Ko Samui, and all provinces in southern Thailand are experiencing normal weather conditions. All airports throughout Thailand, including Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, have not been affected by the floods and are operating as per usual.

What a bunch of bullshit.  Normal weather conditions?  Is that why Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is working in the “Flood War Room” at Don Muang Airport?  Is that why the Thai Government has issued warnings to prepare to evacuate Bangkok?  Especially with more rain expected, water run off from dams and a couple of dams that have broken, and high tides making it harder to get water out to sea?  No mention of the mud slides in Phuket either.  No mention of the bad road conditions in Phuket from the heavy rains that caused this expat to crash his motorcycle.  Guess the Tourism Authority of Thailand needs to look outside their air-conditioned offices and see if it is still raining.

As moronic as the Tourism Authority of Thailand is, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (TAT’s higher headquarters) is even worse.

The Minister of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Chumpol Slipa-archa, must think that we are all idiots since he expects us to believe that the flooding throughout the Kingdom of Thailand will have absolutely no impact on tourism.  I guess that the Tourism Authority of Thailand didn’t get the memo from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports that said “NO IMPACT” as opposed to “SOME IMPACT”.

The wide-spread flooding in many provinces is having no impact on the tourism sector for the moment, Sport and Tourism Minister Chumpol Slipa-archa said on Tuesday.

It doesn’t really matter, though, since they are both lies – both the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Mr Chumpol said he had discussed the situation with tour operators, who said  foreign tourists normally travel by plane so were affected. For example, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Thailand has not gone down.

I think he means unaffected – but still – the statement is stupid.  Plenty of folks have canceled trips because of the FLOODS.  Tourists know they can get to Thailand, but none of them want to wade in raw sewage.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals at Suvarnabhumi airport remained atthe  normal level of between 37,000 and 39,000, he added.

I wonder how he knows this?  The numbers for September from the Department of Tourism have not been posted as of 1300, 11 October 2011.  This is strange in itself, as the monthly inflated totals are usually posted by the 5th.

Even if the numbers above are correct, that would mean approximately 1,140,000 tourist arrivals using 38,000 as the average for one day.  This number would be down from 1,721,119 reported for August 2011.  Will be interesting to see what the numbers are when the Department of Tourism posts them.

The minister said he stood by the ministry’s projection that 19 million foreign tourists will visit Thailand this year.

The Minister can say what he wants since no one will question or dispute him.  If the rest of the world was eradicated by a nuclear holocaust and the only remaining country in the world was Thailand, he would still claim that nothing affects tourism and that they exceeded their tourist arrival numbers.

Yes, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Tourism Authority of Thailand continue to try to spin the flood disaster thinking no one has access to any other information in their home country.

The text was modified to remove a broken link to http://www.tatnews.org/situation_update/5663.asp.

The text was modified to remove a broken link to http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article11175.html.

The text was modified to remove a broken link to http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article11176.html.

Tags: bangkok department of tourism floods Ministry of Tourism and Sports no impact. tourism authority of thailand tourist arrivals