Erawan shrine bombing takes toll on overseas tourism markets but is recovering now

The government has now admitted that the Erawan shrine bombing incident has taken toll on its tourism with the Tourism Authority of Thailand reporting a loss of 60 billion baht in revenues from cancellation of flights during the August-September period.

But it was confident of tourism recovery in the fourth quarter.

The Erawan shrine bombing aftermath was concluded in a report tabled for cabinet acknowledgement at today’s meeting by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

In the report compiled by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Erawan shrine bombing on August 17 had adversely affected its overseas tourism markets.

It said 35 countries had issued levels 1-3 travel warnings to Thailand, with exception of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Slovak issuing level 4 warning or avoiding travels if not necessary.

It said its tourism offices in South Asian countries, namely Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, also reported cancellations of package tours and flights during August and September to Thailand.

Reservations on the August 26 flights to Thailand were also cancelled by half, it said.

Assessment of business loss from the incident to the country’s tourism markets worldwide was moderate, it said, or translated into a loss of 64.3 billion baht in tourism revenues and a missing of 1.33 million tourists visiting the country.

It went on saying that as the situation was kept under control, the recovery in tourism will be seen in the final quarter of the year.

It said local tourism was not affected by the incident although Bangkok tourism was slightly affected, particularly at the explosion area.

However tourism in the area could be fast recovered in two months time.

But it said local tourism revenue might not achieve the set target of 800 billion baht, not because of the bombing incident but purely economic matters.

Thai PBS

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