The fallout from Thailand’s recent political riots appears to be far less disastrous than originally feared, an international travel industry leader says.

The kingdom is experiencing a quick rebound in air traffic, tourism and travel with records and feedback from industry players such as airlines showing improvement.

“During the protests, we thought it would lead to a tourism disaster. But to our pleasant surprise, though the response has been subdued, it is not that bad,” said David Brett, president of the Bangkok-based regional unit of Amadeus, a global travel technology service provider.

His assessment is generally consistent with what other industry leaders observed as traffic began to bounce back in the latter part of last month after plummeting in May during the aftermath of the crackdown on red-shirt protesters in central Bangkok.

Thailand’s political violence, which killed 90 people and wounded about 2,000, was expected to devastate its vital tourism industry and ruin its “Land of Smiles” image.

“I think, to a certain extent, people are indifferent to the political unrest because of their knowledge of the situation and knowing what to expect,” said Mr Brett.

“Long-haul tourists may be scared but not those in the region. People from the region, especially from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, are travelling back to Bangkok for a weekend or three to four days. Those who saw the violence on TV noted where the problems were and made plans to avoid it.”

The year-on-year tourism figures this year look good partly because they are being compared with last year when there was also rioting in April by supporters of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, coupled with the global economic recession.

The shift of international media attention away from the Bangkok crisis to another crisis elsewhere has also helped the kingdom’s image. “People have forgotten about the crisis here,” Mr Brett noted.

The improving outlook prompted the Tourism Council of Thailand to increase its projection for foreign arrivals this year to between 15.19 million and 15.57 million, up from 13 million in the days after the May 19 riots.

Council president Kongkrit Hiranyakit said earlier the world economic recovery and Thailand’s state-supported tourism recovery plan should lead to a strong second half for the sector.

Mr Brett said that while the country has the potential to see traffic bounce back to 2007 levels, its best year, more political protests could wash all that away.

The volume of reservations for airline seats in Asia-Pacific through travel agents jumped 22% in the first five months of this year, showing the robust recovery of air traffic, according to figures compiled by Amadeus. Thai Airways International has recorded similar improvements.

THAI’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) for June were 8.3% higher than the same month last year, and 10.87% higher than in May 2010. Its cabin factor last month was 65.5%, which was 0.67 points higher than in June 2009, and 15.58 points higher than in May 2010.

In the first half of July, the flag carrier saw its RPK rise 8.9% year-on-year, with average cabin factor reaching 73.5%, showing air traffic is returning to normal, said president Piyasvasti Amranand.

source – www.bangkokpost.com