Thailand - Land Of Smiles Or Tourist Trap?

[Coss]

CNBC

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Two Canadian sisters die mysteriously in their rented bungalow on an idyllic Thai island, believed poisoned. Less than week later, a 60-year-old Australian woman is stabbed to death in botched robbery outside a luxury resort in Phuket.

Their deaths are the latest in a tumult of violence and intrigue to shake tourism in postcard-perfect Thailand, raising questions over whether it is squandering a prized asset by failing to protect travelers arriving in record numbers.

 

Other headlines are less dramatic but equally troubling: taxi driver mafias, transvestite thieves, pollution, tourist brawls, traffic accidents, and at airports, radar glitches, flight delays and long immigration queues.

 

"The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) think numbers are going up so people must like it here, but the problem is the quality of their visit has gone down," said Larry Cunningham, Australia's Honorary Consul to Phuket, an island described by travel guide Lonely Planet as "one of the world's most famous dream destinations".

 

The government has vowed to tackle "mafias" in tourist areas, while in February, Cunningham appealed to Phuket's government to stop jet-ski operators who hire thugs and demand compensation for equipment damage renters did not cause.

 

Last year, a German television show broadcast footage of sewage pumped into the sea at popular Kata and Karon beaches.

 

The problems have so far failed to dull Thailand's centuries-old exotic allure. Its palm-fringed islands, gilded temples, spicy cuisine and racy nightlife helped draw 19 million visitors in 2011, generating 776 billion baht ($24.5 billion) in revenue, up 31 percent from 2010, ministry data shows.

 

Even so, tourism's contribution to GDP has barely increased since 2003 and now hovers at 6 percent. And with unspoiled destinations in neighboring Myanmar opening up, Thailand is under pressure to decide what type of tourism it wants.

 

Phuket, for example, is at risk of sharing the same fate as another beach destination: Pattaya.

 

"SIN CITY"

 

A two-hour drive from Bangkok, Pattaya struggles to shake off a seedy reputation as Thailand's "Sin City" and with red-light entertainment, crime and unchecked development, it is synonymous with sleaze and spoiled beaches.

 

"We still think of tourism too much in a opportunistic, money-making way," said opposition lawmaker and former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij. "We are putting the future of the industry at risk."

 

Tourist safety is another pressing issue.

 

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)- a motor sport governing body - shows Thailand has the highest U.S. tourist road fatality rate in the developing world, after Honduras. Britain's foreign office warns of robberies and "vicious unprovoked attacks by gangs" on the party island, Koh Phangan.

 

Some tourists say standards fell short of expectations.

 

"In general Thailand feels safe but tour guides and drivers are more aggressive," says Mattias Ljungqvist, 31, a Swede who first visited the country a decade ago.

 

The TAT says it does not have regulations to tackle crime head on and safety and environmental preservation issues are encumbered by local bureaucracy.

 

But with plans to promote Thailand to new markets in South America and Central Asia, there is little evidence of its tourism ambitions slowing down.

 

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last month said the government's tourism policy would focus on generating 2 trillion baht in revenue within five years. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports plans to spend 2.6 billion baht on developing and promoting tourist attractions in 2013.

 

It hopes to attract 21 million visitors this year, among them big spenders.

 

"People who enjoy eco-tourism tend to spend a lot of money and we are definitely targeting that type of tourist," said Chattan Khunjara Na Ayudhya, a public relations director at TAT.

 

[gobbledonk]

Pretty easy beatup to write - dont particularly disagree with the sentiments, but its hardly 'News' to most here. You already know my thoughts on Phuket, so I'll leave it at that - like Honduras, it simply wont ever be on my itinerary.

[Dexi]

Crime against tourists happens everywhere.Maybe if they expressed the figures as a percentage of the 20 or so million tourists who come to LOS every year it wouldnt look so bad.As for Ko Pan Yang well....mix together thousands of drug and alcohol-crazed backpackers and locals and what do you expect

[Bangkoktraveler]

Thailand is both - land of smiles and tourist trap.

 

...... but then that is true of most places

especially if they are smiling.

[Flashermac]

Airline fuel bills hit hard by runway repairs

 

Many airline flights have been forced into a holding pattern above Suvarnabhumi airport and had to delay landing because of runway repairs, increasing fuel bills by billions of baht, according to an aviation business report.

 

The report said the cost of keeping an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737-300 in the air for an extra 35 to 45 minutes was about 60,000 baht per flight.

 

As a result, the affected airlines have had to pay a total of more than three billion baht in additional fuel costs during the runway repairs.

 

"Different airlines operate different aircraft, but it is believed that all airlines that have flights into Suvarnabhumi have experienced increased operating costs of at least 100 million baht during the two month period," the report said.

 

The airlines felt that Airports of Thailand Plc and the government should take responsibility for this increased cost by introducing measures to reduce their operating costs, such as reducing landing fees and allocating a budget to help airline operators during the repair period.

 

"If this type of situation repeatedly occurs, the airline operators might decide to land at airports in neighbouring countries," the report said.

 

"The government has no clear plan to manage the issue and this has caused foreign airlines to lose confidence. Thailand would then no longer be an air transport hub in Southeast Asia," the report said.

 

Reuters released a report on Sunday saying that the Thai tourism industry could be seriously affected by recent events.

 

According to the report, the death of two Canadian sisters exposed to a poisonous substance on Phi Phi Island and the street robbery last month in Phuket in which a 60-year-old Australian woman tour agent was killed have raised questions about the country's ability to ensure the safety of tourists.

 

The reports of taxi driver mafias, transvestites mugging foreigners, pollution, road accidents and the problems at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, including radar failure, flight delays and long immigration queues, have further damaged the country's image in the tourism sector.

 

Larry Cunningham, Australia's Honorary Consul to Phuket was quoted as saying, "The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) thinks numbers are going up so people must like it here, but the problem is the quality of their visit has gone down."

 

According to the report, a German television show last year broadcast footage of sewage pumped into the sea at popular Kata and Karon beaches.

 

The report said Phuket is at risk of sharing the same fate as Pattaya, which is struggling to shake off its seedy reputation at a red-light destination with a high crime rate, sleaze and spoiled beaches.

 

Even with 19 million visitors in 2011 and rising revenue generating 776 billion baht, up 31 per cent from 2010, former finance minister and opposition lawmaker Korn Chatikavanij said the tourism sector is at risk.

 

"We still think of tourism too much as an opportunistic way to make money.

 

"We are putting the future of the industry at risk," Mr Korn said.

 

My link

[radioman]

There's something not right here. No matter what happens, red shirts protesting, runway repairs, bird flu, it always seems to be the same, the international media highlights the failings here and the 'dire' consequences for the countries hugely important tourist industry. Yet year after year, crises after crises, the number of arrivals keeps increasing, so much it seems that the number of passengers through the airport has already exceed that for which it was planned, so maybe that got that bit wrong as well. The sector maintains it's contribution to GDP, approximately 6%, and everybody is making more money from tourism, income up around 30% from 2010 to 2011.

 

Or is this just an inverted way to say how bad the earlier years were and now they are back on track, but watch out for more hiccups

 

Just sounds like so much attention seeking somewhere.

[BelgianBoy]

Airline fuel bills hit hard by runway repairs

The report said the cost of keeping an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737-300 in the air for an extra 35 to 45 minutes was about 60,000 baht per flight.

 

As a result, the affected airlines have had to pay a total of more than three billion baht in additional fuel costs during the runway repairs.

3 billion and 60K per flight, that is a grand total of 50k flights.

50,000 flights ? really ?

 

BB

[pasathai1]

There's something not right here. No matter what happens, red shirts protesting, runway repairs, bird flu, it always seems to be the same, the international media highlights the failings here and the 'dire' consequences for the countries hugely important tourist industry. Yet year after year, crises after crises, the number of arrivals keeps increasing, so much it seems that the number of passengers through the airport has already exceed that for which it was planned, so maybe that got that bit wrong as well. The sector maintains it's contribution to GDP, approximately 6%, and everybody is making more money from tourism, income up around 30% from 2010 to 2011.

 

Or is this just an inverted way to say how bad the earlier years were and now they are back on track, but watch out for more hiccups

 

Just sounds like so much attention seeking somewhere.

 

 

Very little in the western media about Thailand's problems. seems people just don't know the situation(s)

[kamui]

There's something not right here. No matter what happens, red shirts protesting, runway repairs, bird flu, it always seems to be the same, the international media highlights the failings here and the 'dire' consequences for the countries hugely important tourist industry. Yet year after year, crises after crises, the number of arrivals keeps increasing, so much it seems that the number of passengers through the airport has already exceed that for which it was planned, so maybe that got that bit wrong as well. The sector maintains it's contribution to GDP, approximately 6%, and everybody is making more money from tourism, income up around 30% from 2010 to 2011.

 

Or is this just an inverted way to say how bad the earlier years were and now they are back on track, but watch out for more hiccups

 

Just sounds like so much attention seeking somewhere.

 

This doesn't matter for tourists.

- Deaths? Can happen anywhere, watching a Batman movie seems to be much more dangerous

- Problems at the airport? New York airports or Heathrow are much worse

- Political problems, including riots and killings? Who cares as long as the resorts stay open.

- Tsunami with hundreds of dead tourists? German TV shows reports about the Tsunami every year around Christmas, since German tourists died. Bad luck. It's history anyway.

 

But, if the water gets dirty, if prices go up and the service gets down, tourist will change the holiday destination for sure without any hesitation.