COVID-19 outbreak results in a catastrophic impact on Thailand’s tourism

The coronavirus outbreak is a severe blow to Thailand’s tourism industry, which is crucial to the country’s already struggling economy. According to the World Health Organization’s data, Thailand has at least 70 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. While Thailand has fewer cases when compared to other areas, the virus as a whole has severely impacted tourism. Last week, the Thailand health officials reported a spike in COVID-19 cases, confirming 11 new ones. 

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the coronavirus outbreak has sparked a 44 per cent decrease in tourism numbers in February compared to February 2019. Last week the Tourism Authority warned that the number of foreign visitors may fall to 30 million this year from last year’s 39.8 million.

The Thailand government has been criticized for a lack of clarity over its guidance to potential visitors, including over the quarantine measures that are likely to be imposed on tourists from affected countries. It was announced last week that passengers who have travelled from or transited through several destinations – mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Korea, Italy and Iran – in the 14 days before their arrival may be subject to quarantine. Travellers from these destinations must also provide a health certificate, issued within 48 hours of their departure, certifying that they are free of Covid-19.

Not surprisingly, the coronavirus outbreak has left Thailand’s hotels empty, its tour guides without work and its markets unusually quiet. Fewer visitors mean less food for troops of wild monkeys at Prang Sam Yod temple. A video filmed last week in Lopburi, north-east of Bangkok, which has gone viral, shows large crowds of monkeys brawling in the streets, apparently fighting over a banana. Residents in the city, which is famed for its monkey population, say the fall in tourist numbers means there are far fewer people offering food to the monkeys. On a normal day in Lopburi, the monkeys would be fed by hundreds of tourists but due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, tourism numbers have seen a drastic decrease, forcing the monkeys to find food on their own.