Zur Lage des Tourismus in Thailand:
1. Wall Street Journal:
"Thailand´s capital became two cities on Monday: One paralyzed by antigovernment riots, the other celebrating the country´s traditional New Year water festival.
Throughout Bangkok young people and children gathered on street corners to spray passersby with water pistols or daub them with talcum powder. The festival, a tradition in predominantly Buddhist Thailand, is also a magnet for tourists.
This year, far fewer revelers turned out than in past festivals, because less than a mile away, soldiers were trying to break up mobs armed with Molotov cocktails. Late Monday night, the Associated Press reported that two people had been killed and more than 100 were injured. The clashes represent the most severe escalation in a three-year struggle between supporters of ousted populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra and conservative, military-backed politicians.
The violence has those in the tourism business -- one of Thailand´s biggest industries, accounting for 6.7% of its economy and about two million jobs -- on the verge of despair. "The airport closures were bad enough," said Pusapa Krittiwan, referring to last year´s protests that closed Bangkok´s two airports for a week and prompted the collapse of the previous, pro-Thaksin government. Ms. Pusapa, who owns a guest house in the city´s Khao San backpacker district, said, "People are afraid to come and those that are here are thinking of leaving."
Surat Vongchansilp, president of the Khao San business owners´ association, estimated there were 80% fewer foreign tourists than last year in Khao San, the site of Bangkok´s biggest water festival. "Some people saw the tanks and soldiers and decided to check out. They are afraid something worse might happen," Mr. Surat said.
By midafternoon, Bangkok´s government canceled the festival in Khao San, citing security risks.
Some tourists managed to enjoy the start of the three-day festival. "I know there´s something going on with protests, but I don´t think it´s going to affect my holiday. I´m staying put," said David Garcia, a 21-year-old student from San Diego. Others said they decided to leave early and head to the relative calm of southern Thailand´s tropical beaches.
Industry officials said it may take a long time for Thailand to recover from the latest dent to its previous reputation as an exotic yet safe destination. Kongrit Hiranyakit, chairman of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said continuing mayhem, combined with last year´s airport closings, could cut tourism revenue by a third this year from last, to $5.6 billion. The global economic slump is magnifying the effect of the political upheaval because fewer travelers can afford to come to Thailand.
[highlight=yellow:499328b912]"I don´t know what to say anymore. It´s finished. Tourists have lost the confidence to come here," said Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents.[/highlight:499328b912]
The biggest deterrent, he said, was the way in which the red-clad protesters managed to invade and force the cancellation of an economic summit in the seaside resort of Pattaya on Saturday. Presidents and prime ministers had to be evacuated by helicopter.
As the political crisis continues, the potential risks are sinking in. The U.S., Australia, Britain, France, South Korea and other nations issued travel advisories to their citizens heading to Thailand or urged those already in the country to be careful."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123960554467113037.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
2. The Straits Times
Thailand trips cancelled
SINGAPORE tourists, put off by the chaos in Thailand, are cancelling their trips to the country.
Checks with 15 travel agencies here show that half of them have had cancellations or postponements, especially for Bangkok and Pattaya, the scenes of recent demonstrations.
At ASA Holidays, all 10 Singaporeans headed to Thailand in the next two weeks have backed out. Sino-America (SA) Tours had five cancellations, more than half of those for travel this week. It is the same story at smaller outfits like Goldhill Plaza´s Timesworld with four cancellations so far, and Peninsula Plaza´s Ramesh Travel Service with five.
Said SA Tours spokesman Ruth Lim: ´We have advised customers to postpone their trip to Thailand if possible.´
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a travel alert to Singaporeans to postpone their travel plans to a later date.
Those still travelling should register at
www.mfa.gov.sg to leave a contact, the ministry urged. So far, it has ´received a significant increase in the number of registrations from Singaporeans travelling to Thailand´ and ´will continue to monitor the situation closely´, said a spokesman.
The South-east Asian country is the third most popular travel destination among Singaporeans - behind Malaysia and China - with about 700,000 making trips to the country yearly.
Airlines that fly to Thailand, namely Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways, said that flights would go on as scheduled, but they would waive cancellation and re-routing charges for customers travelling to some destinations during this time.
The National Association of Travel Agents Singapore will also notify its 320 members today to let customers cancel with no penalties."
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_363322.html