Leading hotel groups in Thailand are urging the government to speed up the reopening process for tourists and provide additional financial measures to offset the shortfall of inbound tourists before they collapse.
Accessible financial measures for operators of every size will help protect the industry and maintain jobs while the country waits for reopening mechanisms, said Suphajee Suthumpun, group chief executive of Dusit International.
The Bank of Thailand should implement a more relaxed financial policy for bonds to help medium-sized hoteliers, after the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation enabled small businesses to receive loans and big operators can find mechanisms to stay afloat.
Airline operators, who play a vital part in transporting tourists, also desperately need soft loans, she said.
She suggested the government prepare facilities for tourists by connecting vaccine certification with electronic visas to restart tourism once the vaccine is available.
Chaiyapat Paitoon, chief strategy officer at Minor International, said the company reported a loss of 14 billion baht during the first nine months of this year, of which 2-3 billion baht were in Thailand.
Even though the company can stand on its feet by raising equity and perpetual bonds to gain enough liquidity this year, if Thailand does not have foreign tourists by next year, the business may not get through this situation, he said.
He urged the government to settle the travel bubble agreement with potential markets, such as China, and consider reducing the quarantine period or implementing more relaxed rules.
Parkpoom Prapasawudi, senior vice-president for hotel asset management at Erawan Group, said as [hotel] supply in the country is adequate for 30-40 million of international arrivals per year, it is impossible for the industry to operate with only 7-12 million tourists.
During the last 4-5 months, average hotel occupancy rate in Thailand closed at 20%, of which 5% of overall hotels achieved higher performance of around 50-60%, while hotels in provincial areas could have just 5-10% of occupancy rate, he said.
He said taking a small step to allow tourists into the country is practical and key to survival.
"If the country cannot reopen, at least the government has to come up with solutions to sustain this vital sector through the crisis." Mr Parkpoom said.
The government has to provide support to relieve liquidity tension, especially for hoteliers hit by the virus, said Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, president of the Thai Hotels Association.
Possible measures could be co-payments of monthly salaries to tourism workers, extending the 2% contribution to the Social Security Fund that ends this month and maintaining the land and building tax at 10%.
Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism and sports minister, said he will bring hoteliers' suggestions to a discussion with the Public Health Ministry and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
