The worsening political turmoil is prompting some tourism-related agencies to revise down this year's arrivals and revenue projections.
The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) expects a significant drop in tourist arrivals to Thailand through its members. It projects the number will be lower than 4 million, compared to 4.28 million in 2013.
In the first two months of this year, arrivals through ATTA members decreased by 30% or 228,772 from the same period last year.
"It's impossible to maintain the 2014 target amid political uncertainties. We don’t know what will be next and when the crisis will end. It's difficult to see a full restoration in the second half of the year," said president Susdivachr Cheewarattanaporn.
As of last Thursday, Chinese tourist arrivals through ATTA’s members had dropped by 61% to 81,803, with Japanese visitors down 58.8% to 21,040, Indians down 49% to 12,994, and Russians down 9.32% to 128,669.
Mr Susdivachr said the figures obviously showed that tourism has been dramatically affected by political problems. Even if the impasse ends within the first half of the year, its impact will remain for a while.
"We would like to encourage the Tourism Authority of Thailand to keep its tourism growth target. In fact, it will be hard to achieve the goal because the low season will start in the third quarter. For the last quarter, which is the high season, tourism capacity will be limited to compensate for losses in the first half," he said.
ATTA said Bali, the key rival to Phuket, is popular among Russian and Australian travellers.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) may cut its Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) growth target by at least 10% this year. The bureau previously projected that Mice business would generate revenue of 96.9 billion baht from 987,000 participants.
In the first quarter, about 30 events were cancelled, causing a revenue loss of about 1 billion baht, said Supawan Teerarat, TCEB’s vice-president for strategic and business development.
Key rivals including Malaysia and Singapore are benefiting from events being shifted to their countries.