TAT to Estimate Impact on Tourism from Thai-Cambodian Clashes

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TAT to Estimate Impact on Tourism from Thai-Cambodian Clashes
- Tan Network 2011-02-08

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is keeping a close eye on the Thai-Cambodia border tensions, even though the recent clashes have not posed any significant threat to the country’s tourism industry yet.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Suraphon Svetasreni said that it is too early to assess what effects the Thai-Cambodian clashes along the two countries’ borders that broke last Friday will have on the country.

Suraphon said the TAT is not planning to revise its tourism promotion campaign because overall, the travel industry remains intact and foreign tourists have not negatively reacted to the border tensions.

He added that the TAT is considering a new public relations campaign to promote the Songkran festival, in order to help achieve its 2011 tourism target of 15.8 million.

In 2010, Thailand surpassed its target of 14 million visitors and recorded more than 570 billion baht in tourism revenue.

And while Suraphon conceded that Thai tourism operators will likely suffer from rising costs during the first quarter of the year, he is confident that affected business operators will be able to adapt.

Nevertheless, the TAT is predicting that the country’s tourism sector will continue to be able to cope with the impact of the volatile global energy prices, natural disasters, and the liberalization of trade and services in the region.

It is also urging everyone involved to move quickly in mitigating risks and focusing on intra-regional collaboration with ASEAN markets to offset the contraction in major markets, such as the US and Europe, which currently make up as much as 17 percent of the industry’s revenue.