Article in The Nation today, Hotels hope for boost amid political calm, shows how clueless the tourism industry folks in private business and in Thai Government (Tourism Authority of Thailand) are.  It also shows the lack of journalistic talent at The Nation.

Tourism Toad

The article gets it wrong from the very first sentence:

Tourist arrivals should double from 16 million last year if there is no political turmoil for the rest of this year, hotel operators said yesterday.

The first thing wrong is the number 16 million – it is more like 10.5 million according to a survey conducted by MasterCard.  He is using the fictitious numbers from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Secondly, the writer of the article, Suchat Sritama, gives no indication when this doubling will happen. The Tourism Authority of Thailand have been told by the incoming Government that they want 30 million tourists by 2020.

Even if there is no political turmoil, which is highly unlikely in Thailand, there are bigger issues that are not addressed that will have a greater impact on Thailand Tourism than Red and Yellow Shirts or even Thaksin Shinawatra.

The whole tourism industry has suffered for three straight years from political unrest.

This is not what the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been spouting the past three years.  TAT says that everything is peachy-dandy and tourism even increased despite two months of riots in 2010 that left Bangkok in flames.

“The tourism industry has recorded positive growth this year, but at a much slower pace than it should have been,” said Chanin Donavanik, chief executive officer of Dusit International.

Hmmm.  Big Hotel Dsit CEO says we are growing at a slower pace.  The Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand has revised his 2011 figures from 16.5 million down to 16 million after tsunami and earthquake in Japan and then back up to 16.5 million and then to the ridiculous number of 18-18.3 million for 2011.  He must be on crack.

Many travellers from the East Asia region dropped into Thailand this low season to take advantage of the lower room rates, while European tourists were slow in coming because of the recession, he said.

Good to see that someone actually recognizes that there is a global recession going on and has been going on for about 3 years now.  Try to convince the Tourism Authority of Thailand that there are problems outside Thailand that affect tourism.

Although the average occupancy rate improved this month, business was still depressed and most luxury hotels have dropped their room rates by at least 10 per cent, he said

Depressed business and lower room rates – not really a sign that tourism is expanding as the Tourism Authority of Thailand indicates.

To maintain traffic in the low season, tourism associations in the provinces are moving across regions to run campaigns to attract local visitors to their areas.

Haven’t seen the Tourism Authority of Thailand announce this Facebook.

Prakit Chinamourphong, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said tourism bodies in the South were appearing in the North and Northeast as well as in the Central region to encourage people in outer areas to visit their provinces.

Good luck getting the Isaan folks to head to the terrorist areas of the South.

A group of operators in Pattaya and Hua Hin are adding promotions to lure general tourists, particularly from Bangkok and also from areas along their coasts.

Yep. Since they ain’t coming from America or Europe, you need to call on the Bangkokians to save the day.

A group of golf operators in Hua Hin will put on the Hua Hin-Cha-am Golf Festival from August 6 to September 25, with 10 golf courses in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces offering packages starting at Bt800.

Wonder if the Tourism Authority of Thailand will ever discover niche marketing and get this info out to foreigners.

The tourism business associations in Trang and Satun are working with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to launch a campaign soon, aiming to lure people in other provinces to the deep South.

Get the Thai Government to put an end to the killing down south, and you might get a few tourists.  Or, have a big water gun fight or a transvestite beauty contest since those are things that the Tourism Authority of Thailand know how to promote.

Many hotel operators are expected to join the campaign and offer special discounts of up to 80 per cent during this low season. The promotions will likely focus on the online and Internet channels.

Good luck with that.  How can you survive giving 80% discounts?  Who will do this online?  And, Online and Internet are the same thing.  If you are counting on the Tourism Authority of Thailand to do this online, you are wasting your time.

Hotels and tourism-related operators in Chiang Mai have introduced the “Chiang Mai Best Deal” campaign to attract short-break visitors as well as Thais to Chiang Mai and other Northern provinces.

This one I have actually seen TAT Chiang Mai promoting on Facebook – so they got one right.

The bigger issues I mentioned earlier are the campaign promises of the Pheu Thai party led by Yingluck Shinawatra.  She promised to raise the minimum wage from 40%-90% depending on what Province you work in.  The new wage would be 300 baht per day.

For small business owners, this will mean that they will have to either fire staff or raise rates or both.  Plus, it will hurt other sectors and cause the cost of living to go up – Inflation.

The bosses don’t want to pay more for the same level of work.  They want increased productivity if they are going to pay more.

The workers just want more money for the same amount of work.  They don’t understand that if salaries go up, prices will follow right behind. It will either cost them more to live, or they will be out of a job.

It is very easy for Thai employers to hire cheaper labor from Cambodia or Laos and not have to pay the higher wage.

Add into the mix, the ASEAN Community Plan for 2015 where workers will be able to find work in the ASEAN Community with fewer restrictions on trade and travel.  This could also put Thais out of work with higher quality and better skilled workers from the Philippines to name one.

The political situation will get worse before it gets better.  There are many issues that the Pheu Thai Party will have to deal with – some are left over from the Democrats and some are the campaign promises that will most likely go unfilled.  There is also a BIG issue of AMNESTY for Yellow Shirts, Red Shirts, and Yingluck’s brother – Thaksin.  No matter what, there will be unrest.

So, good luck to the Hotel Operators and the Tourism Authority of Thailand – you will need it.

Tags: hotel operators TAT thaksin tourism tourism authority of thailand tourist arrivals yingluck