In an article from the almost English online newspaper, The Nation, Tourism bodies call for aggressive crisis, the Pacific Asia Travel Association is pointing their fingers at everywhere but within.  Oh, and that headline – missing a word at the end – “management”.

The problem is, that it is too late for the tourism industry to call for “aggressive crisis management”.  The Thai Government couldn’t manage their way out of anything let alone a flood disaster of this magnitude.

Sunrise over Bueng Nong Khot

This big meeting of tourism folks was supposed to discuss/brainstorm ideas on the impact of the crisis and rebuilding the tourism industry.  See how they get it all wrong.

International and local tourism organisations have urged the government to engage in more aggressive crisis management during the floods crisis, as delayed communication has contributed to business losses in the tourism sector.

Unfortunately, when you have a Government comprised of incompetent idiots, management of anything other than stuffing their pockets full of ill-gotten gain is all you can hope for.

The issue was addressed yesterday during the quarterly luncheon meeting hosted by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Thailand Chapter.

PATA is a worthless organization in cahoots with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and does more damage to the tourism industry than good.

More than 100 tourism professionals gathered to brainstorm on the impacts of the crisis and ways to rebuild the industry after the flood waters recede.

They may be in the tourism industry, but I doubt that they are professionals.  Professional finger pointers maybe.

Though many tourism operators blamed international and local media for shaping confused information for foreign tourists, notably the pictures of aircraft under water at Don Mueang Airport, they urged government bodes related to the sector to be more aggressive in their communication.

Sorry, they can’t.  Those in the Thai Government, like the Tourism Authority of Thailand cannot tell the truth. They have to paint a rosy picture even if it means telling lies.

They cited Airports of Thailand and the Transport Ministry in particular, as they are responsible both for the flood-affected Don Mueang Airport and the unaffected Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Hmmm.  Yeah, lets get the permanent secretary from the Transport Ministry – the one suspected of embezzling millions, maybe a billion baht.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Kusa Panyarachun, the 93-year-old founder of the PATA Thailand Chapter and now managing director of World Travel Service, the oldest travel agency in the Kingdom, said that in such a crisis, the best spokesperson communicating to the world should be the prime minister, while tourism-related government agencies and organisations were supposed to work together as a crisis-management centre to deliver a single message.

Wrong.  The PM has enough to do since she is surrounded by incompetents.  In Thailand you have the Department of Tourism, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.  Those three Thai Government Organizations are RESPONSIBLE for providing information for tourists.  They failed miserably.

PATA chief executive officer Martin J Craigs said the crisis-management team should be using new communication technology and speedy communication through all media channels, especially social media.

To see this in action, here is a video of Mr. Martin J Craigs, put out by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a supposed interview, begging people to return to Thailand.  The CEO and the Tourism Authority of Thailand obviously know nothing about social media as this video has had a whopping 206 views since November 3rd – three weeks already.  I firmly believe that this video would scare people and ensure that they never go to Thailand.

Since the Tourism Authority of Thailand failed to provide accurate, timely, honest information, they contributed heavily to this failure.  And, the Tourism Authority of Thailand Amazing Thailand Facebook page did absolutely nothing to provide up-to-date information, answer questions, or encourage foreigners to continue to travel to Thailand.

Luzi A Matzig, chief executive officer of Asian Trails, suggested that to minimise business losses, the Foreign Ministry should use diplomatic channels to communicate with those countries that issued travel advisories against visditing Bangkok, and seek to convince them to lift the advisories as soon as possible.

The Foreign Minister has absolutely no experience in foreign affairs and was appointed because he is a long-time friend of former Prime Minister and fugitive from the law, Thaksin Shinawatra.  Thailand‘s patronage political system is responsible for most of the erroneous reporting to the almost English news media sources.  The Thai Government seemed bent on making predictions instead of providing solutions.  The daily ineptitude was visible all over the Internet and no pleading from the Thai Government through diplomatic channels would make it any better.  Also, notice there are no proofreaders at The Nation – visditing?

“During this unavoidable crisis, we are doing our best to ensure a collective effort as well as to recruit help from every part of the tourism industry in order to cope with the crisis,” said Suraphon Svetasreni, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Number one – it was totally avoidable had the Thai Government looked out their windows and seen the rain in the North and Northeast for 3 straight months and the dams over capacity.  Number two – Governor Suraphon – you have done nothing to help.  You and the Minister of Tourism and Sports should both be fired for incompetence.  Or worse – sent to inactive posts.

According to the TAT, the sector has suffered about Bt70 billion in overall damage and lost business due to the floods.

Since the Tourism Authority of Thailand must sugar coat everything to protect the image of Thailand, figure that the losses are about triple.

However, there is hope for tourism business as the sector is likely to recover quickly, as was the case following the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport in 2008, the outbreak of avian flu in 2009 and the political unrest of last year, said Hanah R Messerli, senior private sector development specialist and tourism finance expert at the World Bank.

No.  The tourism industry in Thailand did not recover from all of the above.  It is only the false reporting by the Tourism Authority of Thailand that gives that impression.

Tags: department of tourism floods idiots lies Ministry of Tourism and Sports Pacific Asia Travel Association thaksin tourism tourism authority of thailand