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Hell No We Won't Go / Tourism Boards / → All Tags

Thais Trying To Turn Tourism Tide

Seems shutting down your international airport for eight days doesn't do good things for tourism! Thai officials say as many as 1 million visitors will now stay away in the wake of the closure and the broader political crisis in Thailand. This month alone, just 500,000 tourists are expected to arrive, just one third the crowd the country was expecting.

The head of Thailand's tourism ministry says the latest downturn is the worst in the agency's 48-year history, trumping even the crash after the 2004 tsunami. Hotels corroborate the stats from the government, talking to Reuters about 25 percent occupancy rates at a time of year when 7 of every 10 rooms are booked.

Even the transvestite go-go dancers are having a tough time:

“Right now, business is so slow. Some nights, only one customer,” said Jodie, a 24-year-old transvestite go-go dancer teetering around the capital’s Nana red-light district in spike-heeled, thigh-high boots.

Related Stories:
· Worst Slump in Decades for Thai Tourism [NYT]
· Bangkok International Airport Still Protest Central [Jaunted]
· Thai Airport Standoff Proves World Is Indeed Flat [Jaunted]

[Photo: René Ehrhardt]

Hell No We Won't Go / Airport Hell / Airports / BKK / → All Tags

Thai Airport Standoff Proves World Is Indeed Flat

Suvarnabhumi Airport has finally reopened, though it promises to be a total disaster in the near-term as hundreds of thousands of tourists try to flee Bangkok. The eight-day standoff illuminated how important airports are--and how their closure, for whatever reason, can cut off entire countries from the outside world.

For every inconvenienced tourist, it seems, there was a FedEx package that couldn't get through. The International Herald Tribune reports that ritzy hotels had to shake up their menus without fancy imported food available and orchid growers had to dump inventory on the domestic market, at one-third the price they're used to getting. Japanese restaurants ran out of sushi, and wine reserves were going fast because people "don't have much else to do these days" the food and beverage director of the Four Seasons told the newspaper.

But perhaps the most globalized industry of all, tourism, took the biggest hit, with officials predicting a 30 to 40 percent drop in vacations this holiday season. Worries about the future of the $17 billion-a-year industry--both because of the airport closure and the on-going political crisis--even forced the country's central bank to cut its interest rate by a full point Wednesday. As the head of Thailand's tourism office told a local paper: "Even the tsunami was over in just one day."

Related Stories:
· Bangkok Feeling the Pain of Isolation [IHT]
· Bangkok Airport Resumes Operations [NYT]
· Bangkok Airport Crisis coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JasonDGreat]

Hell No We Won't Go / Airport Hell / AirAsia / BKK / → All Tags

Had Enough? How To Get Out Of Bangkok

Possible further airport hell averted! The latest reports out of Bangkok have it that Suvarnabhumi could be reopen as early as December 5, though other estimates say rebooting BKK could take at least another week or longer.

Don't order your last celebratory bowl of Pad Thai just yet, though: With as many as a few hundred thousand other people clamoring to get out of the country, flights are bound to be the definition of overbooked for days if not weeks. What's the best exit strategy, then? For now, it's the Vietnam-era U-Tapao airfield, a 90-mile drive south of Bangkok, which is currently operating some international flights.

Among the carriers making connections to international airports that won't be total nightmares for the rest of 2008 are AirAsia, Cathay Pacific, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines. AirAsia in particular has lots of flights, including departures to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Shenzhen and Singapore.

Related Stories:
· AirAsia "Rescue Flights" [Official Site]
· Bangkok Protests: What to Do if You're in Thailand [Telegraph]
· Bangkok International Airport Still Protest Central [Jaunted]

[Photo: AirAsia]

Hell No We Won't Go / Airport Hell / Airports / BKK / → All Tags

Bangkok International Airport Still Protest Central

These People's Alliance for Democracy protesters don't quit! Almost a full week after seizing control of both airports in Bangkok, the PAD is still occupying Suvarnabhumi and no commercial flights are arriving or departing, though some empty planes are being moved to other airports in the region.

The tourism minister of Thailand says the PAD's actions have stranded 240,000 tourists, though as an employee of the current government, we're a little dubious of the accuracy of that figure. Still, there's no denying that several thousand holidaymakers have been inconvenienced by the airport closure. PAD is handing out water as a PR gesture, but most of the reports from BKK we've seen show passengers more interested in getting the hell out of Thailand than hydrating.

Even if protesters clear out of Suvarnabhumi today--and that doesn't seem likely, does it?--it'll be at least another week before it's back in business, the director of the Airports Authority of Thailand has said. In the meantime, regional hubs Changi Airport in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur International in Malaysia are open as usual. If you can get the change fee on your ticket waived because of possibly-coup-inciting protests, let us know!

Related Stories:
· 240,000 Tourists Stranded in Thailand [The Nation]
· Thai Protesters to Focus on Airports [NYT]
· Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport Still Shuttered [Jaunted]