Thailand: Tourists in Danger?

Dodał(a): Marek Lenarcik
2010-03-19 16:54
Odsłon: 1735
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Antigovernment protest organized by the “Red Shirts” in Bangkok is not over yet. Christian Lukey from www.sawadee.com, Thailand’s biggest travel website talks to us about tourists’ safety in Thailand.

When the instability in Thailand hits the newspaper’s headlines tourists who booked holidays are concerned for their safety. Are they right?
It depends on the headlines. There is no violence at the moment and the protests are understood as the internal affair of Thailand. Action is directed at the government and not at the tourists like it happened during the Bali (Indonesia) bombings or when the tourists are abducted in the Philippines. The feeling at the recent International Tourism Exhibition in Berlin indicated that the ongoing political issues are not really on both travel trade or consumers’ minds. The main challenges come from the economic situation in the world and spending power of tourists.

How the current and general political instability in Thailand affects its economy, tourism industry and your business?
In a big picture there are ongoing instabilities, economic crisis in the source markets and a very strong Thai currency. All these factors to various degrees affect the level ad quality of arrivals to the kingdom. The medium and long term implications of recent demonstrations will be felt through the next few months at least. Each of the catalysts listed earlier may not have a too big influence if taken for consideration alone. But combined on top of weak home currencies in eurozone and pound sterling they have a quite sharp impact on all suppliers of the tourism chain.

Christian Lukey is Chief Executive Officer at the Web Sawasdee Plc - owner of the sawadee.com - the biggest tourism website about Thailand.