About 10,000 Israeli tourists have remained in Thailand after the Israel-Gaza conflict erupted into war in their home country on Saturday, while the Tourism and Sports Ministry is closely monitoring the impact on tourism.
Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol said many airlines had halted services between Thailand and Israel, but El Al Airlines, Israel's flag carrier, is continuing its service to Thailand as scheduled.
She said all airlines also offered flight cancellation and postponement to facilitate travellers affected by the situation.
The ministry assigned the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Tourism Department to follow the situation closely if there were tourists left stranded in the country.
Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, TAT deputy governor for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, said El Al would continue to operate 11 flights per week between Israel and Thailand, of which 8-9 flights are bound for Bangkok and 2-3 flights bound for Phuket.
He said outbound flights to Israel were almost fully booked, and might not be sufficient as many Israelis are concerned about their families.
However, if there are tourists left stranded, the agency will help coordinate with private operators to offer assistance for humanitarian purposes, such as the provision of a place to stay temporarily and food.
Mr Siripakorn said the conflict would somewhat impact inbound tourism from the Israeli market.
Israeli visitors tallied about 190,000 in the first nine months, which was close to the whole year number of 194,081 tourists in 2019.
He said this market had an average length of stay of 18 days, with many of them travelling as a family, while some are remote workers.
Mr Siripakorn said it might be too early to estimate the impact of other markets near the conflict zone.
In terms of European markets, the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East is expected to have less of an impact than the war in Ukraine, which has affected European economies overall due in part to sanctions.
During the first nine months, 4.1 million tourists from Europe travelled to Thailand. The number is forecast to reach 6 million this year.
Meanwhile, the TAT expects at least 800,000 visitors from the Middle East in 2023, including the Israeli market.
Suksit Suvunditkul, president of the southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association, said the Israeli market in Phuket saw a growth of 623% in the first nine months of this year, representing 51,651 visitors, exceeding the corresponding period in 2019, which attracted 12,746 visitors.
He said a few hotels in Phuket reported that Israeli guests cancelled their trips as they would like to head back earlier due to the attacks in their homeland.
However, there has been no severe impact on hotels in Phuket. Israel is defined as an emerging market this year, but the number of visitors has been relatively small compared to other major markets, such as Russia.
