Thailand’s Tourism Likely Won’t Improve Until Vaccine Found

The Tourism Authority of Thai land (TAT) has said a vaccine for covid-19 is needed to help reverse the plunge in Thailand’s tourism. Tourism numbers are set to tumble 60% to only 16 million tourists this year. Almost halving foreign tourism income.

Furthermore those numbers could go even lower as the world waits for an inoculation or if a second wave of infections materializes, according to Bloomberg.

“Everyone is waiting on a vaccine,” TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said in an interview April 24. “People are expecting that it will take at least 18 months. Which also means we’ll have to remain in a state of fear and worry.”

Thailand has been particularly reliant on tourism spending, especially by Chinese visitors. The lack of Tourism leaves Thailand with one of Asia’s  bleakest economic outlooks.

Yuthasak said the tourism industry needs to restore confidence in the safety of leisure travel. Predicting that October is the earliest he expects holidaymakers from China to return.

“We must all enter into a new normal after Covid-19,” he said. Also estimating foreign-visitor receipts this year may amount to only 1 trillion baht. Down by almost half from the 1.9 trillion baht in 2019.
Tourism will look again to Chinese Visitors

Yuthasak said “There could also be an opportunity within the crisis for us to improve. So in the future revenue will be more sustainable and wealth can spread to smaller communities.”

Meanwhile, The Thaiger reports Thailand’s tourism recovery trajectory is expected to be initially centered on domestic and local corporate travel. Before radiating back into into international and regional travel.

When borders open and international travel bans are lifted, China will almost certainly resume its dominant role in Thailand’s inbound tourism sector. How this major feeder market for Thailand is expected to begin travelling again will offer strategies for those suffering through today’s crisis.

Findings by Chinese travel giant Trip.com have long ranked Thailand among the first outbound destinations Chinese travelers want to visit post-coronavirus.

Source - Chiang Rai Times

#China virus sends shockwaves through Asia tourist industry

A deadly virus that has prompted travel restrictions in China is sending shockwaves through Asia's tourism industry, which has become increasingly reliant on growing numbers of Chinese visitors.

At least 81 people have died since the new strain of coronavirus emerged in China's Wuhan, and millions are now under an effective quarantine, with all flights in and out of the city grounded and a ban on Chinese tour groups domestically and abroad.

The measures come amid a boom in Chinese foreign travel, with the number of tourists from the country increasing nearly tenfold since 2003, according to a report by research firm Capital Economics.

But businesses in destinations that rely on the huge numbers of Chinese tourists are already feeling the heat, with complaints of "deserted" beaches and shops, and concerns about the future.

There will be a less immediate impact in Europe, which is currently off peak season for visitors from China.

The outbreak carries echoes of the SARS crisis, which paralyzed regional travel and battered local economies from late 2002. Chinese tourist numbers then fell by around a third.

"If they fell by a similar amount again, it would knock around 1.5-2.0 percentage points from (gross domestic product) in the most vulnerable countries," Capital Economics said.

In Japan, the fall in Chinese visitors was already being felt in Asakusa, a popular tourist destination near the Sensoji temple.

"We've definitely been seeing less people this year," said Yoshie Yoneyama, 31, manager of a shop selling traditional Japanese sweets and a rice-based drink called amazake.

Beaches 'deserted'

"I think there are less than half the numbers of last year or the year before," she told AFP.

The number of Chinese holidaying in Japan has exploded from around 450,000 in 2003 to 8.4 million in 2018, accounting for 27 percent of all inbound tourists as Tokyo works to expand the sector.

But it will now be "very difficult" for Japan to achieve its target of 40 million tourists in 2020, Yuki Takashima, an economist at Nomura Securities, told AFP.

And the effects will be felt beyond hotels, restaurants and tourist sites, because many Chinese tourists visit Japan specifically to shop.

The crisis has already sent Japan's key Nikkei index plunging, with stock in Shiseido -- a cosmetics brand popular with Chinese tourists -- falling more than five percent on Monday.

"We can expect those stocks to continue to fall like dominoes," said Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCorp.

But he said Japan would be better placed to weather the storm than another top destination for Chinese tourists: Thailand.

Tourism accounts for 18 percent of the nation's GDP, with Chinese holidaymakers making up more than a quarter of total arrivals.

The country's tourism minister has already warned a crisis on the scale of SARS could cost an estimated $1.6 billion, and the effects are already clear in Phuket.

'Really serious'

"For two days, the streets, the shops and the beaches have been deserted," said Claude de Crissey, who owns a 40-room hotel and a restaurant on the island.

"Phuket has focused almost exclusively on Chinese tourism... if the situation continues, we will all be impacted," he told AFP.

Australia too, already reeling from the effects of the bushfire crisis, is likely to feel the impact.

Chinese visitor numbers doubled in the six years to June 2019, with mainlanders now accounting for 15 percent of Australia's inbound tourists.

Mario Hardy, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association said it was hard to gauge how long the crisis would last.

"I would suspect the impact would be between three to six months, but it will really depend on how the situation evolves in the coming few weeks," he told AFP.

Source - TheJakartaPost