PHUKET resorts, faced with a June that one GM described as ''a horrible month,'' are aghast at a price-cutting proposal by Thai Airways that has aroused passion and resentment.
Now the Thailand Pacific Air Travel Association has joined in criticism of the concept, which originates with Royal Orchid Holidays, a division of Thai Airways International.
With occupancy rates suffering badly, although less dramatically on Phuket than in other parts of Thailand, Royal Orchid has propsed a tourism strategy of cutting prices by 50 percent.
Resort managers find the request for them to slash prices difficult to reconcile with Thai Airways' recent large increase for flights on key domestic routes.
Royal Orchid is also asking hotels in Thailand to add in free dinners, cash vouchers and room upgrades to bring tourists back following the recent politicial turmoil.
While the slashed prices might well bring tourists back, the reduced rates would leave the resorts with the enormous task of attempting to restore room rates to their former levels.
One of Thailand's tourism industry pioneers, William Heinecke, chief executive of the Minor Group, told the influential Wall Street Journal: ''Business leaders in Thailand need to come together. We need to work very closely with government bodies such as Tourism Authority of Thailand.
''It's also very important to avoid any panic-discounting and other such tactics. Reducing our prices will not bring visitors back, but restoring confidence will and it's the long-term strategies that will pave the way to a strong tourism industry in the future.''
The Minor Group has substantial holdings on Phuket, including the highly-regarded Anantara Resort at Mai Khao, on the west coast.
PATA said in a statement: ''Just a few weeks ago, the Thailand PATA Chapter expressed the fear that once the latest crisis ended, some international wholesalers would use their position of power to pressure hotels and tour operators to lower contract rates by an unreasonable amount.
''Putting Thai tourism product suppliers under revenue management and cash flow stress does not help Thailand's tourism industry. It will only create more post-crisis challenges for tourism organisations that have already suffered low occupancy and demand due to the political crisis over the last eight weeks or so.
''It is easy to drop room rates by 50 percent. If we do, it may take up to four years to achieve the same average room rate as 2009/10. That would be a big step backwards.
''PATA has asked all stakeholders to join the Tourism Authority of Thailand's 'welcome back' campaign instead of engaging in ''knee-jerk price cutting''.
It added: ''History shows us that while brutal price-cutting may offer some short-term relief, it creates artificial benchmarks that are used against Thailand's hotels and tour operators in the medium and long term.
''We, the PATA Chapter members in Thailand, kindly ask Royal Orchid Holidays - and any others considering a similar move - to quickly reconsider their demands and work with the hospitality industry to come up with alternative value-added ideas.''
Phuket's Up for the World Cup 2010Now the Thailand Pacific Air Travel Association has joined in criticism of the concept, which originates with Royal Orchid Holidays, a division of Thai Airways International.
With occupancy rates suffering badly, although less dramatically on Phuket than in other parts of Thailand, Royal Orchid has propsed a tourism strategy of cutting prices by 50 percent.
Resort managers find the request for them to slash prices difficult to reconcile with Thai Airways' recent large increase for flights on key domestic routes.
Royal Orchid is also asking hotels in Thailand to add in free dinners, cash vouchers and room upgrades to bring tourists back following the recent politicial turmoil.
While the slashed prices might well bring tourists back, the reduced rates would leave the resorts with the enormous task of attempting to restore room rates to their former levels.
One of Thailand's tourism industry pioneers, William Heinecke, chief executive of the Minor Group, told the influential Wall Street Journal: ''Business leaders in Thailand need to come together. We need to work very closely with government bodies such as Tourism Authority of Thailand.
''It's also very important to avoid any panic-discounting and other such tactics. Reducing our prices will not bring visitors back, but restoring confidence will and it's the long-term strategies that will pave the way to a strong tourism industry in the future.''
The Minor Group has substantial holdings on Phuket, including the highly-regarded Anantara Resort at Mai Khao, on the west coast.
PATA said in a statement: ''Just a few weeks ago, the Thailand PATA Chapter expressed the fear that once the latest crisis ended, some international wholesalers would use their position of power to pressure hotels and tour operators to lower contract rates by an unreasonable amount.
''Putting Thai tourism product suppliers under revenue management and cash flow stress does not help Thailand's tourism industry. It will only create more post-crisis challenges for tourism organisations that have already suffered low occupancy and demand due to the political crisis over the last eight weeks or so.
''It is easy to drop room rates by 50 percent. If we do, it may take up to four years to achieve the same average room rate as 2009/10. That would be a big step backwards.
''PATA has asked all stakeholders to join the Tourism Authority of Thailand's 'welcome back' campaign instead of engaging in ''knee-jerk price cutting''.
It added: ''History shows us that while brutal price-cutting may offer some short-term relief, it creates artificial benchmarks that are used against Thailand's hotels and tour operators in the medium and long term.
''We, the PATA Chapter members in Thailand, kindly ask Royal Orchid Holidays - and any others considering a similar move - to quickly reconsider their demands and work with the hospitality industry to come up with alternative value-added ideas.''
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its a bit easy for Thai Airways to say that when as they say above they have increased fares just went to check online and Thai Airways was 820 pounds for a return flight from UK to Bangkok for an economy seat and that was low season dates I tried
Posted by michael on June 1, 2010 16:17