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Tourists Desert Bangkok Hotels Amid Civil Unrest
It is a hotelier's worst nightmare.
Tourists and travelers canceling reservations right and left. Bookings vanishing over night. Occupancy plummeting almost 100% at some lodgings.
The bars along Khao San Road in Bangkok are virtually empty. The throngs of backpackers who normally make this strip a bustling tourist center have deserted the Thai capital.
No one is permitted on the streets of Downtown Bangkok after 9 PM.
That's the grim social and economic picture in Thailand today, according to the most recent assessment by Reuters.
The violent hand-to-hand street battles between the government and radical groups are over for the moment - but no one will predict when they will flare up again.
Surapol Sritrakul, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), expects foreign arrivals of 12-13 million people this year, down from 14.5 million in 2009.
"We're assessing the damage," says Surapol. "The impact is very severe this time and it could take six months for the industry to recover."
Surapol Sritrakul
Occupancy rates in the budget hotels have plummeted from a normal 80 percent to, at best, 10 percent. The Viengtai Hotel has 205 rooms but only 13 are occupied with 23 tourists.
The nearby Khaosan Park Resort is the same.
Each day, the Viengtai Hotel receives cancellations, sometimes as many as 10, as people are still wary of coming to Bangkok, despite calm returning to the city after troops put down a nine-week protest on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
The military crackdown killed at least 15 people and wounded nearly 100. A total of 53 people have died and 415 been wounded since the unrest flared on May 14.
"It's very bad," Viengtai Hotel receptionist Warapha Noirod told Reuters. "We have bookings, but they are canceling."
The hotel's staff has seen their commission on bookings cut from around 3,000 baht ($93) a month to 1,000 baht and fear next month's commission may be as low as 800 baht.
The protests have decimated Thai tourism, which accounts for 6 percent of GDP and employs 15 percent of the workforce.
They and could have "a significant impact" on growth in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij told Reuters.
The Khao San Road area was featured in the 2000 Hollywood film "The Beach", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and is popular with young travelers on low budgets.
Backpackers on the street say travelers who have decided to come to Bangkok are staying close to their hotels and have cut their stays to a day or two.
Bangkok's top hotels are also suffering, with many close to the protest battleground, the city's ritzy shopping precinct.
The 420-room Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel has seen its occupancy fall to 30 percent from 80 percent earlier in the year.
"Ninety-five percent of our visitors are from overseas. Most people have deferred traveling to this country," general manager Richard Chapman told Reuters.
"It is tragic. I really didn't dream that we would ever have a situation like we just experienced. It will take some time before we build back confidence," said Chapman.
Starwood Hotels has 13 Thai hotels and still plans to open six more in 2010, but some opening dates will be pushed back.
"Most sectors of the tourism industry have been affected, from business travelers to holidaymakers to meetings and incentives," said Nelli Yong, Starwood Hotels' vice president for brand management.
Nelli Yong
"In order to attract visitors back, we need stability so that people are confident of being able to conduct business and to enjoy their holidays in peace and comfort without disruptions," said Yong.
She adds, "Strong leadership is needed to maintain the stability, and to restore confidence in travelers."
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