In the continuing saga about how the Tourism Authority of Thailand gets it wrong again, today’ episode is from an op-ed piece in The Nation.

Too bad the editors at The Nation don’t have the guts to put a name to the piece, it is one of the few articles on the Tourism Authority of Thailand that I have seen at the almost English online media source, The Nation, that gets it mostly right.

Thailand Flood

The editorial in The Nation, We must protect tourism sites in a sustainable way, clearly shows that the Thai Government, specifically the Tourism Authority of Thailand, is clueless.  Apart from quoting fictitious numbers of tourist arrivals and how many billions of baht were spent, the editorial hits the Tourism Authority of Thailand with a dose of reality.

Neglect and exploitation seems to be the mantra of government agencies rather than careful protection and nurturing of our national attractions

Because the Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand do not know what they are doing and are staffed with incompetents.

The tourism industry is one of the hardest-hit sectors in the flooding crisis. It turns out that natural disasters are taking a toll on tourism more frequently than street protests or any other form of political instability these days. Blame it on climate change, deforestation or watershed destruction, but natural disasters, flooding in particular, will wreak havoc on the industry much more frequently. The tourism sector thus needs a regime of sound preventative and rehabilitation measures to cope with disasters and recover disaster-ravaged tourist sites faster.

The natural disaster could have been lessened if the Thai Government knew what they were doing.  Instead, they made it worse and it continues to be a burden in Bangkok today. The Tourism Authority of Thailand didn’t help any by putting out bogus “situation updates” that were anywhere from 2-5 days old and were incorrect and very sugar coated.

Thailand’s tourism industry employs more than 2 million people or about 15 per cent of the workforce, and accounts for roughly 6 per cent of GDP. Due to the flooding, the number of tourist arrivals at Suvarnabhumi Airport dropped from an average of 130,000 a day to about 100,000. The old Don Mueang Airport still remains closed for another month due to flooding.

The numbers are totally wrong.  Total Arrivals run about 50,000 – 60,000 on any given day.  Of these, I would guess that maybe 1/2 are tourists – so the numbers are more like 25,000 tourist arrivals per day – or less.  Never believe any numbers from the Tourism Authority of Thailand or the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

According to the Minister for Tourism and Sport, Chumpol Silapa-Archa, tourist arrivals may reach between 18 million and 19 million this year (compared to 15 million last year) while total revenue from overseas tourists will total Bt600 billion in 2012. He said the floods won’t have any more impact on Thailand than the political unrest of 2010. His statement came amidst heavy rain that has caused flooding in the central plains as well as six provinces in Thailand’s South, which has seen some of the Kingdom’s tourist attractions inundated.

The Minister of Tourism and Sports is full of shit.  There were NOT 15 million tourist arrivals last year and there will NOT be 18 or 19 million this year.  The number is closer to 9-10 million foreign tourist arrivals. But the MOTS and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will never publish true numbers.

Some industry observers are already complaining about the authorities’ lack of preparation for rehabilitation and restoration of not just tourist sites, but also facilities like the old Bangkok airport, out of which at least four airlines are operating. What’s true is that our tourist sites tend to be disaster prone, and still nothing is being done to prevent disasters repeating.

Because they are totally incompetent, don’t care about the future, and are only concerned with lining their pockets with baht from corrupt dealings. All Thai Government Organizations, including the Tourism Authority of Thailand, are corrupt.

Take the ancient capital of Ayutthaya for instance. This Unesco-designated World Heritage Site has always been a cash cow. Last year, 6.53 million people visited the ancient city, generating revenue of Bt9.9 billion. About 1.3 foreign tourists visited and spent Bt2.8 billion. Yet, even without this year’s large-scale flooding disaster, our ancient city is inundated almost every year anyway. Half of more than 200 monasteries, fortresses and other monuments have been damaged by water that rises up to three metres in places. Ayutthaya is bidding to host the World Expo in 2020, but experts doubt the city will win, given that it’s prone to seasonal flooding and that no preventative measures are in place to keep floods at bay.

Yet, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is promoting Ayutthaya to the world even though it is still under water, no restoration plan is in place, and no one knows what to do.

Our tourism authorities like to daydream that Thailand is the most popular destination in this region, given that it’s on some travel magazines’ top-10 list of ideal destinations favoured by foreign tourists. They need to wake up and understand that Malaysia boasts more tourist arrivals than Thailand annually and its airports have never been seized by anti-government protesters or inundated by floods. People think of Singapore – not Bangkok – when they want to see Dali masterpieces, the Bolshoi ballet, world class exhibitions, operas, concerts and other cultural shows.

Yep – if Malaysia is beating Thailand despite the Tourism Authority of Thailand falsifying the numbers, then Thailand tourism is in BIG trouble.

What do we have to lure tourists? Thailand boasts ancient temples, elephant camps and beaches, but they are neglected annually. And we are happy to see them inundated again and again without resorting to any long-term prevention plan to keep tourist attractions safe from natural disaster or at least to minimise damage.

Same old, same old. Add to it the jet-ski scams, muggings, Grand Palace scams, pollution, trash, increasing costs, and corruption – the Tourism Authority of Thailand just doesn’t get it.

What’s frustrating is that just as the flood waters are receding, the Tourism Authority of Thailand plans a string of celebrations to promote tourism in Ayutthaya. This may be a very good idea. But it also reminds us of a familiar cycle that this country seems happy with: we want more tourists to come and spend time and money in Ayutthaya so that we can make a lot of money and live well and care about little else. Then the monsoon comes, the ancient city will be inundated again, and we will wait until the water recedes and will promote Ayutthaya again. Ayutthaya could be just any tourist site in the country.

Yes indeed!  The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thai Government do not care about tomorrow – only how they can line their pockets today.

That’s an exploitation, not a promotion of tourist attractions. The TAT, the Fine Arts Department and other government bodies involved in the tourism industry need a long-term, sustainable, holistic approach to maintaining and promoting tourist sites. It seems the authorities are eager about spending a lot of money on promoting our tourist sites in foreign magazines and bringing in foreign journalists to write nice things about Thailand. But what they should do is spend as much money as possible on protecting, maintaining and restoring our tourist attractions so they become sustainable in the longer term. Tourism will play a much more significant role in our economy in the future. Who will come to our rescue if panicking investors ultimately decide to move their production bases and take their holidays elsewhere?

Precisely.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand is busy spending money and requesting more – you can read about it here in another article from The Nation – Global drive to bring back tourists.  And, their approach is totally wrong.

Anyhow, just another episode about the Tourism Authority of Thailand and how they are doing their part to destroy Thailand.

Tags: ayutthaya exploitation floods foreign tourists TAT thai government tourism authority tourism authority of thailand tourism authority of thailand doing more harm than good tourist arrivals