A SUMMIT of tourism chiefs from Phuket and Phang Nga is seeking financial relief from banks to help resorts to survive the airports blockade disaster.
Aftershocks from the invasion are likely to impact on the Andaman coast and other tourist regions in Thailand for at least one year, threatening the closure of resorts and thousands of jobs.
Mathee Tanmanatragul, President of the Thai Hotels Association, Southern Chapter, told a top-level gathering in Khao Lak yesterday that more than a million tourists had been affected by the eight-day occupation.
As well as the 350,000 tourists who were trapped in Thailand, there were a similar number locked out of the country, and hundreds of thousands of others who cancelled bookings.
Khun Mathee told the meeting that Thailand now needs to apologise to those one million people for the impact on their lives, and in some cases, their livelihoods.
Travellers will not forget the bad aspects of the blockade, he said. It was a first in the world: the seizure of an airport by protesters, he said.
''Other people have wars,'' he said. ''We have an unprecedented airport seizure in a time of peace. It's one for the Guinness Book of Records.''
Forward bookings for many resorts have simply dried up since the blockade, in some cases almost entirely.
The peak season that the Andaman is now entering may project the impression that tourism is healthy because many resorts have healthy occupancy rates, although mostly well below capacity.
In the new year, some resorts will struggle to survive, said the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Tourism in the Senate, Tunyaratt Achariyachai.
One large hotel in Phuket City, asked to take in trapped tourists as an emergency measure, decided to reject them, the new director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand for the region, Sethaphan Bubbhani, told the meeting.
''We don't want to help,'' the management of the unnamed large hotel told Khun Sethaphan.
Khun Sethaphan has since told the Governor of Phuket about the hotel's behaviour. ''They should have helped,'' he said.
He said the TAT had invested millions of baht in road shows since the 2004 tsunami but all that money had been wasted because of the impression the blockade had created around the world.
''We cannot do anything now until we have a new government,'' he said.
Khun Tanyaratt said occupancy rates at some Phuket resorts were down by 30 percent to 50 percent.
The airport closure was not another tsunami, a natural disaster from which the region had recovered, but more like a nuclear bomb, she said.
One positive: Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga were not as seriously ''blasted'' as Pattaya, Hua Hin, Cha-am and Chonburi because those destinations had no airports and therefore no direct flights and charter flights.
Phuket's Kata Group of four leading resorts had suffered drops of up to 40 percent, she said. But that was not her prime concern.
From March onwards, the real extent of the disaster and its ultimate cost to tourism in Thailand would hit home, she said.
She urged resort staff to not put themselves in debt on the basis of their salaries, plus potential future service charges.
''Perhaps tomorrow, you will not have a job,'' she said. ''People need to be preparing now for worse times to come.
''Owners will try to keep their staff but some may struggle to survive.''
Pamuke Achariyachi, owner of the Kata Group, said he was stuck in Japan for two days because of the blockade. But more importantly, his resorts had lost 12 million baht in December so far through cancellations.
''Think about next month and the month after that, and then multiply that pain by many resort owners,'' he told the meeting.
He said he hoped banks would not demand repayment of loans on schedule from resort owners, because that would plunge many of them over the edge and cost thousands of jobs.
Sompong Dowpiset, Chairman of La Flora Resort and Spa, Khao Lak, said resort chiefs needed to be meeting every day to manage the crisis and help each other and the region through the grim times ahead.
''It was at least fortunate that the PAD did not close the airports in September,'' he said. ''If it had happened then, we would have missed the high season entirely.''
Tourists were mostly in Phuket and Phang Nga now because they had to pay deposits and did not wish to lose their money, he said.
''People read the newspapers,'' he said. ''Bali is offering big discounts, and that is where many tourists have gone instead.''
General Manager of the Phuket International Airport, Wing Commander Wicha Nurnlop, said the core problem was the nightly television propaganda that influenced thousands of people into making bad decisions that damaged the economy of Thailand.
''Where is the PAD now that the tourism industry is on its knees?'' he said. ''I don't see them helping to save the country.''
Singapore, Cambodia and other neighboring countries that benefitted financially from Thailand loss were not complaining about the blockade, he said.
Aftershocks from the invasion are likely to impact on the Andaman coast and other tourist regions in Thailand for at least one year, threatening the closure of resorts and thousands of jobs.
Mathee Tanmanatragul, President of the Thai Hotels Association, Southern Chapter, told a top-level gathering in Khao Lak yesterday that more than a million tourists had been affected by the eight-day occupation.
As well as the 350,000 tourists who were trapped in Thailand, there were a similar number locked out of the country, and hundreds of thousands of others who cancelled bookings.
Khun Mathee told the meeting that Thailand now needs to apologise to those one million people for the impact on their lives, and in some cases, their livelihoods.
Travellers will not forget the bad aspects of the blockade, he said. It was a first in the world: the seizure of an airport by protesters, he said.
''Other people have wars,'' he said. ''We have an unprecedented airport seizure in a time of peace. It's one for the Guinness Book of Records.''
Forward bookings for many resorts have simply dried up since the blockade, in some cases almost entirely.
The peak season that the Andaman is now entering may project the impression that tourism is healthy because many resorts have healthy occupancy rates, although mostly well below capacity.
In the new year, some resorts will struggle to survive, said the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Tourism in the Senate, Tunyaratt Achariyachai.
One large hotel in Phuket City, asked to take in trapped tourists as an emergency measure, decided to reject them, the new director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand for the region, Sethaphan Bubbhani, told the meeting.
''We don't want to help,'' the management of the unnamed large hotel told Khun Sethaphan.
Khun Sethaphan has since told the Governor of Phuket about the hotel's behaviour. ''They should have helped,'' he said.
He said the TAT had invested millions of baht in road shows since the 2004 tsunami but all that money had been wasted because of the impression the blockade had created around the world.
''We cannot do anything now until we have a new government,'' he said.
Khun Tanyaratt said occupancy rates at some Phuket resorts were down by 30 percent to 50 percent.
The airport closure was not another tsunami, a natural disaster from which the region had recovered, but more like a nuclear bomb, she said.
One positive: Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga were not as seriously ''blasted'' as Pattaya, Hua Hin, Cha-am and Chonburi because those destinations had no airports and therefore no direct flights and charter flights.
Phuket's Kata Group of four leading resorts had suffered drops of up to 40 percent, she said. But that was not her prime concern.
From March onwards, the real extent of the disaster and its ultimate cost to tourism in Thailand would hit home, she said.
She urged resort staff to not put themselves in debt on the basis of their salaries, plus potential future service charges.
''Perhaps tomorrow, you will not have a job,'' she said. ''People need to be preparing now for worse times to come.
''Owners will try to keep their staff but some may struggle to survive.''
Pamuke Achariyachi, owner of the Kata Group, said he was stuck in Japan for two days because of the blockade. But more importantly, his resorts had lost 12 million baht in December so far through cancellations.
''Think about next month and the month after that, and then multiply that pain by many resort owners,'' he told the meeting.
He said he hoped banks would not demand repayment of loans on schedule from resort owners, because that would plunge many of them over the edge and cost thousands of jobs.
Sompong Dowpiset, Chairman of La Flora Resort and Spa, Khao Lak, said resort chiefs needed to be meeting every day to manage the crisis and help each other and the region through the grim times ahead.
''It was at least fortunate that the PAD did not close the airports in September,'' he said. ''If it had happened then, we would have missed the high season entirely.''
Tourists were mostly in Phuket and Phang Nga now because they had to pay deposits and did not wish to lose their money, he said.
''People read the newspapers,'' he said. ''Bali is offering big discounts, and that is where many tourists have gone instead.''
General Manager of the Phuket International Airport, Wing Commander Wicha Nurnlop, said the core problem was the nightly television propaganda that influenced thousands of people into making bad decisions that damaged the economy of Thailand.
''Where is the PAD now that the tourism industry is on its knees?'' he said. ''I don't see them helping to save the country.''
Singapore, Cambodia and other neighboring countries that benefitted financially from Thailand loss were not complaining about the blockade, he said.
