Most of the Bangkok-based tour operators who cater to Chinese visitors were in despair when the news that Thailand extended its state of emergency until May 31. The Covid-19 pandemic has left them unable to speculate about the future, either of their own business or the country’s tourism sector. Thai tourism was the first sector that was hit, but it is the last sector that receives help, they complain.
Thailand’s tourism sector businesses are feeling the pinch after China’s restrictions on outbound travel that were put in place in January and the Southeast Asian nation’s partial lockdown, which was instituted in April.
Thailand is particularly reliant on tourist spending, especially by Chinese visitors, and the sector’s woes leave it with one of Asia’s bleakest economic outlooks. The Bank of Thailand said the country’s economy could contract by more than 5 per cent this year.
Tourism, which makes up an estimated 17 per cent of the country’s GDP, is expected to suffer a major decline with no specific timeline as to when it will pick up again. Visitor numbers are set to tumble 60 per cent to 16 million this year, almost halving foreign tourism income, but those figures could go even lower amid the search for a vaccine or if the second wave of infections materializes, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
The tourism industry would have to restore confidence in the safety of leisure travel. October may be the earliest Thai’s can expect Chinese holidaymakers to return; and estimate that foreign tourism receipts this year might come to at the most 1 trillion baht ($30.8 billion), down from 1.9 trillion baht in 2019.
