Tourism Indochina: Suvarnabhumi Airport is Getting Back to Business

Tourism Indochina: Suvarnabhumi Airport is Getting Back to Business

(Tourism Indochina: Date : 2008-12-08):

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport resumed full services from 11 am (0400 GMT) on Friday, after the end of an eight-day siege by anti-government protestors on Wednesday.

Among the airlines resuming operations on Friday were Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways AirAsia and Bangkok Airways.

Emirates, Qantas and Jet Airways resumed full services on Saturday while Lufthansa resumed scheduled flights to Suvarnabhumi on Sunday.

Other major airlines are in the process of resuming their operations to Suvarnabhumi and will continue to do so in the coming days.

At 9am on Friday morning, acting Transport Minister Santi Promphat joined the International Air Transport Association (IATA) officials and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to inspect Suvarnabhumi’s readiness.

Mr Santi expressed confidence that Suvarnabhumi airport is 100 per cent secured, and said that the government would be dedicated to restoring the confidence of tourists and businessmen.

Chaophya Park Hotel & Resorts, General Manager Andrew J Wood expressed the sentiments which are no doubt being felt by all in Thailand’s tourism industry, “we are all looking forward to getting back to business as usual”.

Six Senses Resorts & Spas, Chief Marketing Officer, Raymond Hall has urged Australian not to reconsider their travel plans to Thailand.

“As an Australian living in Bangkok, I have no hesitation at all in saying to come. Thailand has not changed and is still a great experience and is affordable. The demonstrations were unfortunate, to say the least, however, like Australia, Thai politics can be robust.”

He continued, “Quite frankly, many thousands of Thai hospitality workers need the Australian market to have confidence that Thailand has not changed fundamentally. It is still the land of smiles, however corny that may sound, and the hospitality is legendary.

“Already it is possible to get peak period accommodation at low season rates at may destinations, including at Six Senses properties in Hua Hin, Samui, Phuket, and Yao Noi and Naka – just beyond Phuket.

“As far as I am concerned, personal safety of visitors was not an issue in the recent demonstrations. The airport issue was a huge inconvenience to many visitors and very embarrassing to almost all Thais. It really is a great time to visit in a period in which it is often difficult to get accommodations, it is now possible to have choices and at great rates.”

The damage to Thailand’s tourism industry has been colossal with the airport shutdown already costing the tourism- and export-dependent economy hundreds of millions of dollars.

Thailand authorities have said that they are prepared to weather the storm, "We might lose about one million (tourists) but not more than that," Phornsiri Manoharn, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said, referring to a target of 15.5 million arrivals this year, a 7 percent rise from 2007.

"Most of our tourists are repeat travellers. I've talked to many of them. They said they will come back and they're not worried," she said.

Thailand’s tourism directly employs 1.8 million people and brings in the equivalent of 6 percent of GDP to the county’s coffers.

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