The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) is asking the Thai Government (read the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)) to develop risk management plans to cope with natural or man-made disasters.

But, will the Tourism Authority of Thailand listen to the Tourism Council of Thailand? I doubt it.

Bucking Heads

I doubt that the Tourism Authority of Thailand knows what a risk management plan is let alone how to develop and implement one.

Here is the story about the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Risk Management from The Nation – Risk management plan urged to bolster tourism.

Risk-management plans for tourism need to be prepared to cope with any further instability this year so that Thailand remains on top of travellers’ minds.

Preparing a plan is easy.  Implementing it, testing it, refining it, learning from testing, tweaking it, coordinating it, trusting it – all of these thing need to be done.  The Tourism Council of Thailand cannot expect the Tourism Authority of Thailand to just prepare a plan and then stick it on a shelf to gather dust.

“Rebuilding tourism is not just putting more effort into marketing and strategy, but also into prevention and rehabilitation,” said Kongkrit Hiranyakit, president for policy and planning at the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT).

First off, the Tourism Authority of Thailand fails at marketing and strategy to foreign markets so that may also be a point of contention to correct first.  Risk Management plans for tourism in the Asian region have already been developed – all that needs to be done is to update it to bring it current.  One is here.  But, like I said earlier, having a plan is easy – implementing it can be difficult.

Thailand’s image overseas as a country at high risk of natural disasters, the economic meltdown in Europe and internal political strife are all issues that will cast a cloud on the Thai hospitality scene through 2012, he said. All parties must develop specific plans to deal with these issues, besides making adjustments to marketing activities and strategic plans.

That cloud is going be around a lot longer than just 2012.  Get the Tourism Authority of Thailand to update their flood “situation updates” quicker than weekly.  There are serious flash floods down south and the Tourism Authority of Thailand is promoting Songkhla with no warnings of the danger.

Although tourism has been cruising along on a growth trajectory over the past 50 years, the industry will likely no longer enjoy that kind of ride. Particularly over the past 10 years, the road has been strewn with unexpected events.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has given the impression that tourism is cruising along and posting unrealistic numbers of foreign tourist arrivals.  Even during the flooding in October, the Tourism Authority of Thailand claimed that tourism was up when compared to October 2010.  Bullshit.

Tourism was hit hard by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, then was buffeted by many other ill winds including the tsunami in 2003, the political coup in 2006, the airport takeover and shutdown in 2008, the collapse of the Asean Summit during another protest in 2009, Bangkok riots in 2010 and massive inundation in 2011.

No fact checker at The Nation.  The tsunami was in 2004, not 2003.  Also, the author left out the avian flu (H1N1) around 2006, the fighting on the Cambodian border over Preah Vihear, government corruption at all levels, scams in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket, tourists being drugged and robbed, tourists getting injured or killed on elephant rides, crimes going unpunished, and government mismanagement at it worst.  For whatever reason, mainly face, the Thai Government, including the Tourism Authority of Thailand, think that everyone outside of Thailand doesn’t have access to the truth about Thailand.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t realize that Twitter, Facebook, other online news media, forums, YouTube and a host of others, get out the real info on Thailand instantaneously.

Even thought arrivals are still climbing, the proof of Thailand’s slippage is the drop in its market share of international visitors in Southeast Asia – from 36 per cent in 2003 to 30 per cent in 2010.

Arrivals are not still climbing. despite what the Tourism Authority of Thailand says.  It is only because the Tourism Council of Thailand, a non-government organization, is co-located with the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Bangkok, that the TCT believes what TAT says – I guess they almost have to since they work side-by-side.  It may be difficult to distinguish the Tourism Council of Thailand from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The flooding in 2011 caused tourism losses of Bt40 billion to Bt50 billion, as visitors increased to Malaysia by 5 per cent and to Singapore by more than 2 per cent.

I would venture that the flooding cost way, way more than that in 2011 and will impact tourism numbers in the future resulting in more losses.  I am also sure that visitors increased in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, India, and Indonesia.  But, the Tourism Authority of Thailand won’t admit this.

The TCT has urged the government to establish a Tourism Risk Fund as a reassurance for tourists that they will always be taken care of so that they continue coming back even during difficult times.

Except that when a tourist tries to collect from the fund, the Tourism Authority of Thailand will find reasons to disallow the reimbursement.  Just another pool of money that the Tourism Authority of Thailand can exploit.

The government must also improve its delivery of news by dispensing facts and guaranteeing the safety of tourists from their first steps into the country until they leave, the council says.

HAHAHA. Delivery of the news by the Tourism Authority of Thailand cannot be “just the facts” or Thailand will suffer a damaged image.  And, the first steps into the country tourists are hassled by rip-off “limousine” companies, “broken meter” taxis, duty free scams, and fake customs police.

Over the next three or four years, Thai tourism will face even tougher competition as the government forecasts growth from 15.96 million international arrivals and Bt592.79 billion revenue in 2010 to 31.8 million foreign visitors and Bt2 trillion receipts in 2015, Kongkrit said.

The numbers put out by the Tourism Authority of Thailand are pure bullshit and not even close to 15.96 million in 2010 and not even close to the 18 point whatever they will claim for 2011.  Plus, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has no way to know how much foreign visitors spend.

Prakit Chinamourphong, president of the Thai Hotels Association, urged the government and the private sector to restore tourism by transforming simple events such as the Songkran and Loy Krathong festivals into global galas.

Songkran is already heavily promoted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand as the World’s Largest Outdoor Water Fight  when they should be promoting it as a festival to honor elders.  Loy Krathong is also heavily promoted and the Tourism Authority of Thailand is responsible for ruining this simple event.

“A huge budget is needed if we want to see the country stay at the top of the region,” he said.

The Thai Government and the Tourism Authority of Thailand solution for everything – throw more money at it.  If the Tourism Council of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand were smart, they would use social media properly to garner more tourists at a very small fraction of the billions of baht they currently waste.

The text was modified to remove a broken link to http://www.tatnews.org/situation_update/5788.asp.

Tags: flood risk management TAT tct tourism authority of thailand tourism council of thailand tourist arrivals