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Companies that are directly or indirectly dependent on tourism in Thailand are giving up en masse. The uncertainty about the future in particular is a reason to stop or suspend activities.
Thirty percent of tourism businesses have already shut down, said Chairat Trirattanajarasporn chairman of the Tourism Council of Thailand. He expects the sector to be hit even more hard. The main sectors affected are tour operators, small fleet bus services, restaurants, souvenir shops and hotels catering to foreign group travelers from China.
The Tourism Department says that from January through June, 1.111 tour operators returned their licenses and asked for their security deposits to be returned. The number rose to an all-time high in June with 262 companies permanently shutting down. In the second quarter, they made up 65 percent of all business closures.
If the travel bubbles cannot be introduced this year, many more tour operators will have to close their business permanently, expects Thanapol, chairman of the Thai Travel Agents Association.
Source: Bangkok Post
The situation in Thailand is similar to that of many countries. Tourism is being hit hard almost everywhere, and the many related sectors due to a shortage of foreign input.
In the EU, the southern countries are most affected. Countries such as the Netherlands and Germany have more fat on their bones. Last April, the EC already reported that large-scale rescue plans were needed. What can be blamed on the government of Thailand is that they closed the country, allowed this situation to last at least until the end of August, did not outline any perspectives on how to proceed with all those sectors mentioned in the article, and to date none point on the horizon. Thailand is united with neighboring countries in ASEAN. Incomprehensible until he is not awakened. Thailand cannot rely on domestic tourism alone. That is nice this year for all those Thai people who book a midweek HuaHin or Chiangmai, but at the end of the year it is poverty for 65% of the population. What I hum you!
Can you please tell me how poverty will be an advantage for 65% of the population if only 20% of the GDP is acquired through tourism….
Of course there are many informal tents that have benefited from tourism. But what I see now in my town of Trad is that people are very inventive about doing other things and moving on with their lives. After all, before the Vietnam war, Thailand also survived without tourism.
Trad has nothing to do with tourism, left a single stray guest passing through there. And so there are many cities, I look at my hometown Nakhon Ratchasima, which is not a tourist magnet, although the largest city in Isaan. On the other hand, large areas are dependent on tourists and then perhaps more than 50%; look to the holiday island of Phuket, or Samui, Koh Chang or take Chiang Mai and more cities.
It's not just tourism that has been affected, I read in June that car sales have halved, yes 50% less. Thailand is no more than a workplace for many foreign companies and very dependent on exports. In many countries the economy is not going well and Thailand will suffer a lot from that, I haven't seen the figures yet, but that will come. The baht is already falling, which is good news for pensioners, and that is undoubtedly because exports are less and the demand for baht is falling. Well, before they already had 11 million Thais with a poor card and then you have a million or 14 new unemployed people (I read in June) and then you are already talking about 25 million poor adults and then another million or 18 children up to 20 years and then you are already at 45 million of the 68 million Thai with little or no income. After you will see quite a lot of people actively, but yes there is no one who will bring their money so yes most will try to earn something somewhere, that is why you see people in Trad pick up other things inventively, as you write yourself.
You are comparing mangoes to bananas.
A percentage of GDP is very different from a percentage of a number of people.
Someone who sells fruit or something else with his cart contributes nothing to the GDP, but without tourists he has lost his livelihood.
You see many people doing something else inventively, but you don't see many more people sitting at home because there is no work to be had.
I see it in the village, where many young people without a third grade secondary school diploma are walking around. They are sent away at the employment office with the announcement that no unskilled workers are currently being sought, if skilled workers are still being sought.
Before Vietnam, many people could still live off what nature provided.
Since that time, a lot of nature has disappeared and a lot of land has passed into private hands and is no longer accessible to the landless Thai.
Well,
Not just “targeting foreign group travelers from China”.
But everyone, in Chiang Mai it's totally blown out.
In Amsterdam too, you know, before the tourists came back in dribs and drabs. Wonderful, you can also enjoy Chiang Mai without tourists, and all the excesses that entails.
It will not be easy for Thailand, no matter how laconic it is done. You may like to visit the sights in an empty city, but in the long run that same city pays a hefty price for it. No money for maintenance quickly means decay.
Incidentally, Amsterdam is bursting with crowds, which is why the mayors of the major cities are calling for more measures due to the flare-up of infections.
Patong has become a dead “city”.
30% is just the beginning of the tsunami of bankruptcies. Extremely sad, and no sight of any tourist this year. The collateral damage of strict lock down. (1100 tour operators have already stopped in Thailand)
It's going to get much worse.
With a possible new wave in Europe due to the summer holidays and the opening of catering establishments, I think that the regime will keep the borders closed for a while longer. Maybe until there is a vaccine…
LS
So NO Thailand this year!!
Maybe take a look in January and sell my condo right away, if that works out!!
I'm done with Thailand now.
Maybe sell to the Chinese, they will come to Thailand anyway.
Hang in there to all Dutch people who are there, there will be better times ....... but when???
Gr rob