November 18, 2008
BANGKOK (AFP) - Sitting outside his Thai kickboxing equipment shop in Bangkok, Soombut Yinglap says he has a plan for coping with the global financial downturn -- eat less and hope the tourists eventually arrive.
"Now there are not many tourists. Before in the high season it would be full," he told AFP, gesturing to the nearly empty pavement where vendors try to sell holiday-makers everything from fake DVDs to knuckle dusters.
"I cannot do anything, just wait and see. Eat little, spend little -- try and save some money," the 37-year-old said outside his shop selling shorts, shin pads and headguards in the downtown Nana district.
Up the road at Boss Avenue tailor shop, 28-year-old Peter Geri says his store will cope by marketing cheaper fabrics.
Fewer tourists in need of a new suit are coming through his doors this year, a slowdown he blames on "the business crash down all around the world".
Thailand's high season has just begun and runs to February, but the signs for one of Southeast Asia's top tourism destinations are worrying.
Rising fuel costs pushed international arrivals at Bangkok's main airport down to about 600,000 in August -- a 33 percent drop from a year earlier after a jump of 5.5 percent in July, Ministry of Tourism figures show.
In September, arrivals were down 21 percent, and industry experts say numbers are expected to remain low as the global credit crunch prompts consumers worried about their jobs and mortgages to stay at home.
Kongkirt Hiranyakit, chairman of government body the Tourism Council of Thailand, warned that the perfect storm of factors could lead to the loss of up to 70,000 tourism industry jobs.
An estimated one million people work in the tourism business and around 700,000 in small and medium enterprises, he said, adding: "The current crisis could hit around 10 percent of those or around 60,000 to 70,000 people."
PATA had forecast Thai tourist growth at four to five percent this year. The first nine months of the year were on track, but now the group is expecting growth to fall to about two or three percent.
The TAT, meanwhile, is trying to entice tourists from Southeast Asian markets like Singapore and Malaysia, which have so far managed to avoid any serious impact from the financial woes.
