Thailand tourism continues to suffer heavy losses

One of the pillars of the Thai economy has been hit hard by a series of shocks. After the number of visitors from China dropped by more than 30%, tourism in the country has been hit hard by the Israel-Iran conflict.

The tensions will affect five markets of Thai tourism , which could fall by 50%, while the number of visitors from the Middle East to Phuket has already started to decline due to airspace closures.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said the conflict has had a widespread impact on air travel in the Middle East region.

Several airlines operating flights to Thailand - among them Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Flydubai, Air Arabia, Oman Air and SalamAir - have adjusted their routes to avoid conflict zones and closed airspace of some countries, she said.

Tourists pose on Mai Khao beach in Phuket province as a plane lands at Phuket International Airport

PHOTO: AFP

So far, Tehran-based Mahan Air is the only airline that has temporarily canceled flights to Bangkok and Phuket due to the closure of Iranian airspace, causing the Iranian tourist market to "evaporate" during this time.

Five markets including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria accounted for 7% of Middle Eastern visitors to Thailand, excluding Israel with 100,781 visitors, according to the Bangkok Post .

Arrivals from these five markets could fall by 30-50% to between 3,500 and 5,000 in June as a large number of tourists and airlines postpone trips during the Eid al-Adha festival, a peak travel period that attracted 7,165 tourists last year.

TAT is also monitoring the long-term impact that could spill over to other Middle Eastern countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, which account for 80% of the overall Middle Eastern market, if tourists consider air travel unsafe, Ms Thapanee said.

Hotels in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai, key destinations for these markets, are likely to be most severely impacted in the short term.

If tensions are resolved this month, arrivals should start to recover in July as several airlines have confirmed plans to launch new routes to Thailand, including Royal Jordanian Airlines, which will operate a twice-weekly Amman-Bangkok route starting in August.

However, Ms Thapanee said that the full recovery depends on the extent of damage caused by the conflict. TAT is aiming to attract 1.06 million tourists from the Middle East this year, up 11% from 2024.

According to The Nation , Malaysian tourists have surpassed Chinese tourists to become Thailand's top source market for the first time in 13 years, since 2012. Specifically, statistics from January 1 to June 8 show that the number of Chinese tourists reached a total of 2 million, while Malaysian tourists reached nearly 2.1 million. This contributed to the number of foreign tourists to Thailand decreasing by 2.7% in 5 months, which is unusual for this globally famous destination. There are many reasons for the decrease in Chinese tourists to Thailand, the leading of which is the security instability in this country when many tourists were kidnapped.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/du-lich-thai-lan-lien-tiep-chiu-ton-that-nang-ne-185250618141825896.htm