Travel firms bring tourists home, shun Bangkok

Tour operators have brought home tourists stranded in Thailand, and managed to promote other destinations in close proximity such as Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, and China as alternate destinations for local tourists.

Travel companies like Saigontourist Travel Service, Vietravel and Fiditourist have reported that they have arranged for over 150 local travelers in Thailand to return home overland from Thailand via Cambodia.

The tour operators have covered all costs for the guests to come home, including hotel fees for days that the visitors have stayed over in Thailand and Cambodia. Saigontourist even has cooperated with its travel insurance provider AIG Vietnam to give US$50 for each of its 61 travelers who have come home.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has issued a warning asking travel companies to temporary stop arranging tours to Thailand by air for tourists.

Many companies in the city have canceled tours to bring guests to Thailand to see the football tournament ATF Cup, and sought to promote tours to other destinations in the region.

“We’d planned Tet (Lunar New Year 2009) tours to Thailand before but have now asked guests to cancel such tours and think about destinations like Malaysia, Singapore or China, while waiting for further news from Thailand,” said Dang Trung Nghia, deputy general director of Fiditourist.

Vietravel on Monday announced a discount of between US$50 and US$100 per tour to Beijing, Singapore and Malaysia.

Ta Thi Cam Vinh, head of outbound department of the company, told the Daily on Monday air tickets from Vietnam to these short-haul destinations are cheaper than in the past months.

She said she does not expect to see a recovery in the number of local travelers to Thailand in this year-end holiday. International airlines have said that they would give deposit back to her company for bookings from this New Year and Lunar New Year 2009.

Thailand is a popular destination for local tourists, with some 260,000 Vietnamese travelers visiting the neighboring country last year. Thailand’s tourism this year is looking for 15,000 more Vietnamese tourists, but arrivals from Vietnam have fallen sharply in the past three months due to the political unrest.

Many tour operators said despite the attractive tour price, the number of visitors to Thailand has plunged by 40% to 50%. They did not expect the number of guests would recover in this year-end holiday season.

“Bookings for tours to Thailand in recent months were down by around 50% compared with the same period of 2007,” said Luu Dinh Phuc, director of Viettours Trading & Services Company.

Vietravel and Ben Thanh Tourist have seen a similar drop, which is very worrying as tours to Thailand make up a substantial share of these firms’ revenue.

“Revenue from selling tours to Thailand accounts for around 40% in total revenue of the outbound sector. So, we are worrying about the decline,” Duy from Vietravel said. (SGT)