Friday, 17 January 2014 00:00
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Reuters: Bangkok hotels have seen a drop in the number of tourists staying since the anti-government protests took hold in the capital, Thailand’s Hotels Association said on Thursday (January 16).
In a city which has witnessed protests before, lines of tents pitched up against the signs of five-star hotels and along the road in front of them is perhaps not a completely alien sight.
Protesters continue to occupy several main intersections in the capital bringing parts of Bangkok to a near standstill in their push to topple the government and “shutdown” the city, but despite the camp sites blocking the hotels and high-end shopping malls situated at the heart of Bangkok, they remain open.
However, Thailand’s Hotels Association President, Surapong Techaruvichit said the number of tourists in the capital had fallen.
“The estimated number (of tourists) has decreased by 15-20 percent which means the expected percentage of tourists coming to Bangkok is around 65-70 percent. While other destinations with direct flights such as Phuket, Chiang Mai, Samui should not be impacted by the protests,” he said.
Political turbulence is not always a drag on Thailand’s economy, which has weathered eight years of on-off turmoil that has seen governments toppled, protesters shot, buildings and buses set ablaze, and airports and shopping malls seized by demonstrators.The bloodiest political violence in a generation erupted in April and May 2010, but foreign inflows nearly doubled that year; stocks rocketed 40.6 percent and the economy bounded ahead by 7.8 percent, its best growth in 15 years. Tourists returned to Thai beaches in near-record numbers, up 12 percent that year.
However, the current crisis is dragging on longer, entering a third month, with no end in sight. As each week passes amid speculation of a possible military coup, economists and policy-makers are chopping more off their growth forecasts for Thailand’s $360 billion economy. Unlike in 2010, the economy is much more reliant on tourism and infrastructure spending, both of which are taking a hit. Thailand is now in its peak tourist season, unlike during the 2010 unrest. In December, tourist arrivals increased by only 6.7 percent over a year earlier, an alarming figure for an industry accustomed to years of double-digit growth. Arrivals jumped more than 30 percent in December 2012. Surapong added that as long as the protest did not spiral into violence he felt the impact upon tourism would be minimal. “If there’s no violence, clashes which could leave many dead and injured, the impact on tourism won’t be big. We saw the number of tourists decrease in December and January by around 100,000-200,000 (in Bangkok).
One French tourist on holiday with his wife said the blockades were annoying as he walked through the protester camp site to get to his hotel. “We just arrived, we arrived from the airport, and the taxi driver dropped us 500 meters away from here because we are going to this hotel right here, at the Arnoma. Yes it is a little annoying after a flight that the taxi drops us over there,” Salerio said who will be in Thailand for six weeks, but Bangkok for four days Another tourist from Northern Ireland was unfazed by the political turmoil.
“Not really no, we’re from Northern Ireland so we are well used to it like. No it’s quite peaceful and quite friendly, me and my wife (are travelling) around the world so we find everyone very friendly and very nice so we have not had any bother at all, we’ve walked through it (protest camp) every single day and night as well, no one’s bothered us,” Chris said who has been in the capital for two weeks.
The unrest, which flared in November and escalated this week when demonstrators led by former opposition politician Suthep Thaugsuban occupied main intersections of the capital, Bangkok, is the latest chapter in an eight-year conflict.
The political fault line pits the Bangkok-based middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier ousted by the army in 2006 who is seen as the power behind her government.
