Thailand Tourism Officials Predicting Songkran Festivities Will Attract Huge Numbers Of Tourists.

Another brilliant article in The Nation about the impact of mother nature on tourism in Thailand.  As usual, Tourism officials say that there will be little, if no impact, on tourism.  Hah!

Thai New Year Songkran

Let’s see.  There was an earthquake in Cambodia and then determined by the illustrious Thai meteorological folks five days later that there was also an earthquake in northern Thailand. No impact on tourism in Thailand during Songkran!

The southern provinces have been inundated with rain and flooding with major impacts on Krabi and Koh Samui.  These are two very big tourist areas. No impact on tourism in Thailand during Songkran!

Toss into the mix, the earthquake in New Zealand, tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown in Japan, and the global economic situation, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that tourism in Thailand will  be down, down, down. But, no impact on tourism in Thailand during Songkran!

Tour Company operators, the Director of Asia Hotel Bangkok, and the Management of Peninsula Bangkok are all looking through their rosy red glasses and predicting that there will be no impact and tourists will flock to Thailand in droves.

Who are they kidding?

This is just another feel good story in The Nation that is a total crock of shit.

I guess these geniuses don’t realize that people around the world have seen the images on TV and the Internet of rescue operations down south.  They saw the Royal Thai Navy with their aircraft carrier and the Royal Thai Air Force with their helicopters evacuating local Thais and tourists alike.

They read the horror stories of going to Koh Samui Airport every day for three days trying to get a flight out with little or no help from the Thai government.

They have also read the stories of the taxi mafia in Phuket blockading a cruise ship and not letting the tourists off.

Biting the hand that feeds them – the Thai way of doing business.

More and more, people are saying that they don’t want to holiday in Thailand.  Political turmoil in 2010 and natural disasters in 2011 don’t make people want to visit the Land of Smiles.

Hotels in northern Thailand, mainly in Chiang Mai, are only at 50% with Songkran right around the corner.  These hotels should be fully booked by now.

But, mai pen rai.  Never mind.  It is all good and the tourists will flock to Thailand for Songkran.  Right.

These tourism people need to face reality.  Thai politics, ongoing scams and rips-offs, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and people out of work, do not equal big tourism numbers.  Plus, people are well aware of the taxi mafia and price gouging at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.  More biting the hands that feed.

Even though the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thai Government have various Songkran festivities planned throughout the month of April, it will not help.  It just means that people will get soaking wet for a longer period of time.  And, that there will be more accidents and deaths on the wet roads.  I am sure that there will also be some pissed off tourists who planned to come before or after Songkran to avoid the lunacy, and will post all kinds of nasty reports about getting sopping wet thinking that Songkran is only from 13-15 April.

But, keep wearing your rose colored glasses and make these outlandish predictions that the tourists will come in droves despite the earthquakes and floods, and see how long you maintain your government post.  The biggest problem is that no one wants to tell the truth for fear of losing their job so they just keep on saying that everything is fine and tourism in Thailand is great.

No impact.  Nothing ever has an impact on the tourism business in Thailand.  Keep thinking that way.  Keep promoting to the local Thais.  Because, the Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t have a clue on how to promote to anyone outside of the Thai kingdom.

It doesn’t really matter.  These folks will inflate their numbers when the end of the year reports come out and state that more tourists came to Thailand in 2011 than in 2010.  More lies and creative accounting during Songkran.

Tags: bangkok earthquakes economy floods koh samui krabi suvarnabhumi tour tourism tourism authority of thailand tsunami