Thai Inbound Agents Send ‘Impact’ Letter Ahead of Test & Go Suspension Review on Jan 4
Suvarnabhumi Airport Bangkok: Now you see ’em tourists, now you don’t.
What’s left of Samui’s famous Ark Bar on Chaweng Beach, just one of many businesses ravaged by the pandemic.
By Raini Hamdi, 23 December 2021
Thai inbound operators rue the suspension of quarantine-free travel on December 22 and have sent a letter to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) outlining the repercussions on their business.
Their message is timed for the government’s review of the suspension on January 4. A whole industry is holding its breath on a positive outcome that could save the peak winter season, indeed, the whole of 2022.
The letter said the suspension was at “a less than 24-hour notice” and done during the peak season. It dented the confidence of overseas tour operators who were starting to spend resources to promote Thailand once again, it said.
It also regretted the hours the industry had wasted on numerous meetings, calls and webinars to support the government with a reopening plan.
Written by Diethelm Travel Group’s director of sales & marketing, Victor Mogilev, the letter was sent to directors at TAT. Several inbound agencies in Thailand have also followed suit to send the letter to the tourism body, according to Stephan Roemer, CEO, Diethelm Travel Group.
Here’s the impact list, in the form of questions, and edited for brevity:
• Inbound operators have brought teams back and reopened operations. Should they let go of these team members and close the business again? If no, how does the government plan to support the sector when “one day we have a programme, the next day we switch off the main source of business?”
• How can the sector encourage talent when “one day there is work, the next day you are out?” This will also impact inbound agencies’ ability to attract future talent to support an industry that accounts for 20 percent of Thailand’s economy.
• What motivation can companies give to existing team members who already are stretched to the maximum by working the longest possible hours and at reduced salaries? The decision sent a message that all the work was for nothing. Moreover, agencies are the ones who must address multiple complaints, questions and concerns from their overseas travel partners and guests, and they won’t make any money on this, rather only lose more money.
• Why, once again, that “drastic” decisions are made at the last minute, giving businesses no time to at least communicate with partners and guests properly and find suitable solutions? Multiple times the industry has had to ask for full details, only to see an announcement made but “details to follow”.
• While it’s great to see the country embracing digitalization, can Thailand Pass applications, or any other applications, be improved? “We’ve all experienced issues when only three of four members in one family are (approved) despite everyone having all the required documents. Or guests getting confirmation only two hours before the flight. Hotline numbers don’t work while nobody responds on ‘support’ email.”
• Lastly, while Thailand is acknowledged as a pioneer of reopening travel in the region, “we are now also recognized by the international travel trade community as a destination that is highly unstable and has a tendency to change decisions from one day to another. This leads to future lack of confidence in selling, promoting and booking the destination. How shall we tackle this issue once a new reopening program is announced?”
The letter also pointed out the “devastating” impact on people’s livelihoods with Thailand’s international borders closed for 18-20 months. Businesses have had to close, people lost their jobs, savings burnt and tremendous debts owed.
“Our sector did not have efficient ‘furlough schemes’ unlike countries in Europe, the US or nearby Singapore. While the initial Sandbox opening in July 2021 was a great step forward to stability, it arguably generated only a fraction of the needed business. Revised targets of international visitors were not achieved, and it must be said that at least 30 percent of travelers were either Thai nationals traveling abroad or foreigners traveling to see family or for business reasons,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand has cut its foreign tourist arrivals outlook for 2022 to 5.6 million from six million due to the impact of the Omicron variant and quarantine-free travel suspension.
That’s a fraction of the 40 million arrivals Thailand received in 2019.
Thailand was enjoying an upswing in arrivals since its reopening on November 1. Arrivals of 182,578 between December 1-21 surpassed the 133,061 recorded for the whole of November (133,061).
Majority of arrivals in the December period were on Test & Go (156,807), followed by Sandbox travelers (21,646) and quarantine travelers (4,125).