THAILAND could lose more than 25 billion baht (US$815 million) in tourism revenue and fall short of earlier tourist targets this year should the current flood crisis last until December, said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni explained that the country's tourism marketing arm had analysed three different scenarios.
In the worst case – if the flood prolonged in the central plains and engulfed the entire Bangkok until year-end – Thailand would suffer more than 25 billion losses in domestic and international tourism revenue for 2011. Foreign arrivals are also predicted to slide to 19.1 million, down from 19.5 million projected.
Should the flood continue in the central plains and spread to the whole of Bangkok until November, the country would lose some 15.5 billion baht in tourism revenue, and miss the foreign visitor target by 220,000 arrivals.
Even if inner Bangkok is spared from the waters and the crisis ends by this month, the country would still be staring at a loss of about 3.7 billion baht in tourism revenue and 70,000 less foreign visitors.
The crisis has prompted the government to declare public holidays from today to October 31, encouraging residents to leave Bangkok to unaffected areas.
No official advice has been issued to tourists or tour operators at press time, although foreign governments like Singapore’s have already asked citizens to defer non-essential travel to the city. This afternoon, the Bangkok governor met with tourism stakeholders to discuss the crisis.
Meanwhile, the Thai Hotels Associations (THA) has roped in 61 member hotels across the country, offering special room rates for flood-affected residents at 600 baht, 900 baht, 1,200 baht per night, depending on the class of hotel.
THA vice-president Surapong Techaruvichit said he expected more hotels to follow suit. Asia Hotel Group, for example, was also allowing guests to move from its Bangkok hotel to sister properties in Pattaya and Cha-am at no extra charge.
THA is also in the process of lobbying member hotels in unaffected areas such as Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya and Hua Hin to join a newly-launched 1 Check-in 1 Dollar campaign to raise funds for flood victims.
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