Tourism in Thailand will be hit badly

From the New Straits Times yesterday...

Songkran new year revellers in Sungai Golok having great fun dousing each other with water yesterday. — NST picture by Fathil Asri

BANGKOK: Thailand tourism had barely started picking up from last year's shutdown of Bangkok airports by protesters when violence returned to the capital as troops and demonstrators swapped gunfire and firebombs this week.

A woman pours talcum powder on a man as they celebrate the Songkran festival, the Thai traditional New Year, also known as the water festival in Petaling Jaya. — AP picture

Hundreds of local and foreign tourists still gathered yesterday to celebrate the Songkran water festival in Bangkok's Khao San Road, a magnet for budget travellers, but some businessmen wondered how many foreigners would be back next year.

"This could be the last time you see such joy and celebration here in Thailand," said a less-than-festive Surat Wongcharnsilp, chairman of the Association of Khao San Business Operators, Reuters reported.

"Around 80 per cent of tourists have checked out and more tourists are expected to leave after Songkran," Surat said.

The Songkran water festival marks the start of the Thai New Year.
With many Thais moving around the country, the festival is normally one of the year's high points for tourism, which employs around 1.8 million people out of a population of about 65 million and accounts for around six per cent of gross domestic product.

In all, the industry generates about 540 billion baht (RM55 billion) annually.

But maybe not this year. At least four countries -- Singapore, Canada, Australia and Britain -- have issued advice to their people to defer non-essential travel to Bangkok after the government declared a state of emergency there.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattana-yagorn put on a reassuring voice on television.

"We would like again to make your stay in Thailand as safe and secure as possible, and we believe the situation will be brought back to normal very, very soon," he said in English.

Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said tourist arrivals could fall below 10 million this year.

Meanwhile, Sharifah Mahsinah Abdullah and G.S. Narinder Singh report that the Songkran water festival was celebrated on a grand scale in Sungai Golok (Thailand) and Penang.

In Sungai Golok, the celebrations were the biggest in this border town since 2004, when the unrest in the southern provinces began. Most of the hotels and budget motels were fully booked. 

Businesswoman Supatra Tanjakjaran from the neighbouring Sungai Padi said: "This is the biggest celebration I've seen in years."

Thousands of devotees and revellers also thronged the Wat Chaiyamangalaram (Sleeping Buddha) Buddhist Temple in Pulau Tikus, Penang, yesterday.