Tourism Unaffected by Unrest Say Thailand Specialists

News of political unrest, street protests, martial law and military coups typically don’t bode well for tourist destinations. Unfortunately for Thailand, all have made headlines there in the past several months.   

One recent development does have tourism officials breathing a sigh of relief.

On June 13 Thailand’s acting military administrators lifted all curfews. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) sees this as a sign that tourism in the kingdom is back in full swing.

Actually, a number of tour operators told Travel Market Report there wasn’t much disruption in the first place. Here’s what agents should know to decipher the headlines.

Recent events
In a nutshell, this is what’s gone on in Thailand: In late 2013 protests began to spring up between pro and anti-government supporters. In May of 2014, the military stepped in to declare martial law, followed a few days later by a coup d’état. Using the name the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military has acted as administrator of the country since then.

Among other measures, the NCPO has enacted curfews. Beginning in early June it began to withdraw those curfews in areas popular with tourists, such as Pattaya, Phuket, Ko Samui, Krabi, Hua Hin, Cha-am and Phang-nga. The curfews were withdrawn nationwide June 13.  

Official line
“We cannot help but to keep telling the world that it’s always business as usual in Thailand and that tourism has not been disrupted by the political situation,” said Thawatchai Arunyik, governor of the TAT.  

TAT officials said even before the curfew was lifted, visitor feedback indicated no impact from the coup. The country’s acting administrators are espousing a “pro-tourism” policy in which key business and services remain fully operational.

Eyes on the ground  
Tourism boards, of course, are in the business of painting a rosy picture for their destinations. But the assessment of business as usual is widely-held in the industry.

G Adventures for example, reported that its tours continued without interruption during the protests.

“The only disruption we saw was traffic, but we overcame that by using different roads or adjusting our timings,” said Sharan Bajwa, Regional Operations Manager, South East Asia, G Adventures.

One noticeable downside: “During the curfew (from midnight to four a.m.) there wasn’t much nightlife for our passengers to participate in,” said Bajwa.

Off the beaten track
Mark Yacker, director, North America for Travel Indochina, noted that the protests weren’t located near major tourist areas.

“The biggest impact was getting clients to airports little earlier than normal. Bangkok has nightmare traffic in the best of times,” said Yacker.

Robert Moore, founder and president of Vancouver-based Tourchoice.com spent two weeks in Bangkok in early June.

“I saw precious little military presence there other than a few soldiers at the Bangkok airport. The Chiang Mai Airport (in Northern Thailand) is owned by the military, so visitors will see a bigger presence there,” said Moore.

Public perceptions
Tour operators also said the political situation hasn’t had much impact on sales.    

“In terms of inquiries we didn’t see much drop off,” said Yacker.

“A few people said they would hold off on their trips to Thailand. But we only had one client withdraw. There’s been minimal impact, especially outside of Bangkok and Chiang Mai. In the beach areas they weren’t even enforcing the curfews.”

G Adventures reported “less than a handful” of cancellations. In those cases, the company offered a future travel credit.

“As many of the protests were of a non-violent nature, travelers were not as wary,” said Star Statulevicius, manager, inside sales, for G Adventures.

“Also, it definitely helped that we took a pro-active approach and sent out a notification to all travelers letting them know that we were fully apprised of the situation and everything was running as normal.”

Catherine Heald, co-founder and CEO of tour operator Remote Lands, has been back and forth to Thailand several times since the political unrest started.

“The American press totally blows everything out of proportion. When you get there you see things are absolutely fine,” said Heald.

“The protests were in isolated areas. They were easy to avoid, since they were always announced ahead of time. Our clients weren’t affected in the slightest. Most of them want to be in their hotels in the wee hours, so the curfew didn’t bother them,” she added.

Precautions still warranted
Clients, however, should still abide by some common-sense precautions.

G Adventures’ Bajwa said tourists are still advised not to engage in any anti-coup activities, to avoid large crowds, and to remain vigilant while travelling around the country. It’s also a good idea to carry passports on you in case of checks by the military.
 
Moore’s take is decidedly upbeat.  

“From what I saw in early June, the mood in Thailand is ebullient,” according to Moore.

“People are thrilled about the coup in the sense that it brought peace and order. It is seen as a way to get rid of corrupt politicians and a corrupt police force. It’s a housecleaning that will make the country much more attractive for tourism.”