According to an article in the TTR Weekly, ATTA reports cancellations, tourists are cancelling trips to Thailand left and right.

And, instead of doing anything to improve the situation, all that is done in Thailand is more finger pointing.

Thailand Tourism Flood

So, just how bad is it in Thailand for the tourism industry?

 Tour cancellation have surged since early November mainly due to inaccurate media reports that claimed the city’s gateway airport was closed, Association of Thai Travel Agents president, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn reported yesterday.

Yep, that would be the good ‘ol almost English newspapers here in Thailand – not the foreign media.

Travel industry executives have lambasted a local English language newspaper for its  banner headline “Bangkok Airport closes.”  They claim it caused a panic to cancel trips to Bangkok.

And, quite possibly, the photos and videos posted all over the Internet showing the reality of the floods – not the make-believe, contradictory, inaccurate, incomplete, and false information put out by the Thai Government.

Travel and airline executives also accuse the media of doctoring photographs by merging images of Suvarnanbumi Airport with images of aircraft standing in a metre of water on the parking aprons at the domestic airport.

Photoshopped?  Quite possible as bad news sells better than good.  What was the Department of Tourism, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Tourism Authority of Thailand doing to counter these claims – NOTHING!

Some likened it to the “despicable tactics” of wire tapping in the UK that caused the News of the World to close, claiming media outlets lack ethics and professionalism.

No such things as journalistic ethics here – just stories that are inaccurate, never checked for validity and never questioned.  In fact, some of the reporting at the Bangkok Post during the floods were photos taken from a blog site – pantip.com.

“ Internationals tourists and tour companies came to the conclusion Suvarnabhumi Airport was closed and this was partly the responsibility of reporters and the media who failed to accurately report the truth.”

Along with the Thai Government who failed to accurately report the truth, and put out mixed messages daily saying that Bangkok would not be flooded, Bangkok would be flooded, some areas of Bangkok would be flooded, there will be no impact, we are closely monitoring the situation, don’t panic, move everything to the second floor, prepare to evacuate, and on and on and on.

The ATTA president called on the government to act decisively and take action to safeguard the country’s economy particularly tourism.

Too late.  Despite the Department of Tourism claim that tourism increased 7% in October 2011 over the previous October 2010, the damage has been done. People have cancelled tours and have already gone elsewhere.

Mr Sisdivachr added: “Most of the provinces in Thailand are safe for visits, but there is zero information about it. Even our government explains the bad news that makes tourists afraid to come.”

This is most certainly true.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand posted 1-2 day late “situation updates” that were totally worthless, made a video supposedly interviewing the CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) which has had a whopping 180 views and has probably done more to scare people away from Thailand.  The Thai Government is too busy making stupid predictions instead of putting out timely, accurate updates.

The association will conduct a survey on the impact of the floods on tourism from Japan and China.

You don’t need a survey.  Anyone with 1/2 a brain knows that the impact was severe.

“Travel firms decided not to bring groups to Thailand after hearing Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and officials on television warned that Bangkok was a high flood risk area,” he said.

That and a million other stories that showed how incompetent the Thai Government is in handling a crisis.  The mismanagement of the flood situation, that was played out daily in the Bangkok Post and The Nation, let the whole world know that it was not the best idea to come to Thailand right now.  Even a few embassies posted warnings to their citizens.

He said:“ Postponements and cancelled trips could leave us with around 10% of our bookings. The cancellation rate has soared since 26 to 28 October,” Mr Sisdivachr added.

Ninety Percent!!!  How will the Department of Tourism report the tourism arrival numbers for November?  They already claim a 7% increase for October 2011 when it was most likely at 20% drop.  I guess they will say that tourism arrivals were only up about 5% for November instead of down 30%-40%.

“The rate is almost 100% from China, while even stable markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia are indicating massive cancellations,” he said.

And China was to be the BIG market that was going to save tourism in Thailand.  Doesn’t look good now or for the future.

The Thai Government needs to realize that once the flood crisis is over, it does not mean that everything will go back to normal and all the foreign tourists will return.  Seeing how badly the Thailand Government has screwed things up for the past 2 months, will leave a lasting impression on many.

Tags: Association of Thai Travel Agents atta department of tourism Ministry of Tourism and Sports mots TAT tourism authority of thaialnd