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Baht/$ 33.68/71
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GOLD |
14,900
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CHADAMAS CHINMANEEVONG
Domestic tour operators' hopes that the market would pick up after the December election have been dashed and those without financial strength are going out of the business, according to the Association of Domestic Travel (ADT).
''The tourism business is being hurt by political problems. Average bookings and revenues of local tour companies have fallen sharply by 60%, when compared to early last year,'' said Maiyarat Pheerayakoses, the ADT president.
Tourists were changing from visiting beaches and mountains to temple tours to lift their morale at a time of economic and political strain, she said.
Ms Maiyarat said some tour operators had been gone out of business already. ''If the situation is prolonged, more and more domestic tour companies will be closed down,'' she said.
The tourism mood has been poor since the coup in September 2006 but operators were hopeful that after the election took place late last year, sentiment and travel spending would improve. In fact, there were signs of an upturn in the first quarter of this year.
''But things change and tour operators can't see any clear business direction in the future because they can't predict the solution for current political problems,'' she said.
Now most domestic tourists feel anxious about politics and the economy and some aren't in the mood to travel.
The association forecast that the travel environment would not improve even though the year-end festive season is coming. In addition, foreign tourists are still worried and some may delay their decisions to travel to Thailand.
''I hope all parties will think about the country's benefit first. If the country can't survive, nobody can survive. Most important, if the county faces growing political problems, it will lose competitiveness and be outpaced by others in this region,'' Ms Maiyarat said.
Last year, a total of 83.23 million domestic trips were made, compared to 81.49 million in 2006. Tourists last year stayed an average of 2.63 days and spent about 1,767 baht per day. Tourism-related businesses generated revenue of 380 billion baht for the country.
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