Two million jobs in Thailand lost as one third of tourism businesses close down
Thailand is preparing to deal with a million more jobless tourism workers in the first quarter this year as a result of the new wave of coronavirus infections on top of one million who already lost their job last year in the sector, the Tourism Council of Thailand said.
The country is currently confronted with a new Covid-19 outbreak that started in late December and led to the imposition of lockdowns in many affected provinces, including the capital Bangkok, throughout January which resulted in closures of many businesses.
The dire outlook comes as a survey by the Tourism Authority of Thailand survey conducted between January 10 and 12 found that more than a third of Thailand’s tourism-related businesses, effectively 34.7 per cent, have already shut down and gone out of business.
That said, industry players estimate that the number of collapsed businesses is much higher. In regions almost solely relying on tourism for an income such as Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, several Gulf and Andaman islands and touristy areas in and around Bangkok, up to 90 per cent of front-line tourism businesses are said to have closed or have gone broke.
Those are businesses that mainly operated in areas such as accommodation, travel agencies, tour companies, restaurants and bars, car and bike rentals and public transport.
Tourism overexposure takes its toll
Observers say that Thailand is now faced with the shatters of an industry to which it was comfortably overexposed in the past and which now not only diminished, but changed forever after decades of stunning growth in mass tourism to a record visitor number of almost 40 million in 2019.
Amid an unpredictable situation with regards to the virus, Thailand’s tourism and sports minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn claimed that ten million tourists would start arriving in Thailand from the middle of this year for the rest of 2021, without detailing where these tourists would come from and whether they would still have to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine at their own expense and/or if they needed to be vaccinated beforehand.
At the same time, Thailand’s state planning agency, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council, said it expects only five million foreign arrivals this year as a rough estimate, deepening the impression that Thailand’s official organisations are not very well coordinated when it comes to important public statements that would support companies in planning their business ahead.
Empty counters at Bangkok's main international airport Suvarnabhumi Thailand is preparing to deal with a million more jobless tourism workers in the first quarter this year as a result of the new wave of coronavirus infections on top of one million who already lost their job last year in the sector, the Tourism Council of Thailand said. The country is currently confronted with a new Covid-19 outbreak that started in late December and led to the imposition of lockdowns in many affected provinces, including the capital Bangkok, throughout January which resulted in closures of many businesses. The dire outlook comes...
Thailand is preparing to deal with a million more jobless tourism workers in the first quarter this year as a result of the new wave of coronavirus infections on top of one million who already lost their job last year in the sector, the Tourism Council of Thailand said.
The country is currently confronted with a new Covid-19 outbreak that started in late December and led to the imposition of lockdowns in many affected provinces, including the capital Bangkok, throughout January which resulted in closures of many businesses.
The dire outlook comes as a survey by the Tourism Authority of Thailand survey conducted between January 10 and 12 found that more than a third of Thailand’s tourism-related businesses, effectively 34.7 per cent, have already shut down and gone out of business.
That said, industry players estimate that the number of collapsed businesses is much higher. In regions almost solely relying on tourism for an income such as Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, several Gulf and Andaman islands and touristy areas in and around Bangkok, up to 90 per cent of front-line tourism businesses are said to have closed or have gone broke.
Those are businesses that mainly operated in areas such as accommodation, travel agencies, tour companies, restaurants and bars, car and bike rentals and public transport.
Tourism overexposure takes its toll
Observers say that Thailand is now faced with the shatters of an industry to which it was comfortably overexposed in the past and which now not only diminished, but changed forever after decades of stunning growth in mass tourism to a record visitor number of almost 40 million in 2019.
Amid an unpredictable situation with regards to the virus, Thailand’s tourism and sports minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn claimed that ten million tourists would start arriving in Thailand from the middle of this year for the rest of 2021, without detailing where these tourists would come from and whether they would still have to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine at their own expense and/or if they needed to be vaccinated beforehand.
At the same time, Thailand’s state planning agency, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council, said it expects only five million foreign arrivals this year as a rough estimate, deepening the impression that Thailand’s official organisations are not very well coordinated when it comes to important public statements that would support companies in planning their business ahead.
