Thai Tourism to Get Public Relations Boost

The Thai tourism industry is still reeling from the short-term effects of the one-week closing of Suvarnabhumi airport and the longer-term effects of the global economic slowdown and the ongoing political showdown between rival political parties as well as the divisive actionsof disgraced former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

However, at the annual Christmas luncheon held by the local Bangkok chapter of SKAL, the international tourism professionals association, and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), some words of optimism were heard. Although many of the members there represented companies that have been hurt, sometimes badly, by the downturn in business, there remained an underlying sense among the attendees that things would sort themselves out in a reasonable amount of time.

One speaker, Brian Sinclair-Thompson, the Thailand SKAL chapter president, noted the past problems that the Thai hospitality and travel operators had faced in the last five years including the bird flu scare, SARS, the tsunami and the 2006 military coup. After each of those problems the Thai tourism industry recovered and came back just as strong as it had been before.

There are fears within the industry, however, that the closing of the airport here by protesters coupled with the global economic problems will require special measures to revive the tourism industry in a timely way. SKAL members in particular are planning an inclusive public relations campaign to highlight the positive aspects of Thai tourism as well as emphasize the true nature of the takeover of the airport and the political turmoil that has been ongoing.

There will soon be a series of press releases that will highlight the fact that things are back to normal in Thailand, that the airport closing will never be allowed to happen again, that the political situation does not adversely affect tourists in any way and that the gradual weakening of the baht over the past few months has made travel to Thailand a better value than it has been for several years. 

See http://thaihotels.ning.com/profiles/blog/list for info on hotels and travel destinations in Thailand.