Violence rattles Thailand's tourism industry

Violence rattles Thailand's tourism industry

Jack Barton, Agence France-Presse, Bangkok

Thailand's top tourism destinations have been hit with cancellations in the aftermath of attacks in the kingdom's deep south which left scores of Muslim militants dead, industry experts say.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) secretary general, Chidchai Sakornbadee, said last week's troubles in the southern provinces bordering Malaysia had had an immediate affect.

"There were about 60,000 Chinese tourists booked for May Day vacations in Thailand from the first to the seventh of May," he told AFP.

"But the turmoil in the south caused cancellations of between 30 to 40 percent," he said, adding that bookings had already been steadily falling since violence erupted in the region in January.

About half of all tourists from China -- one of the largest contributors to Thailand's tourist arrivals -- had itineraries which took them overland through the restive south and on to Malaysia and Singapore, said Chidchai.

After the clashes between security forces and separatists that left 113 people dead, Australia, Britain, Denmark and New Zealand advised their citizens not to travel to the five Muslim-majority provinces.

But the threat widened to regions further north after outlawed separatist groups told foreigners to avoid the top resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi and the popular destinations of Krabi and Phang Nga.

"Patani people are not responsible for anything happens to you after this warning," militant group Bersatu said in a statement, without elaborating.

Australia then widened its travel warning for Thailand to include many popular tourist destinations, saying its citizens should "exercise particular vigilance" in Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga and other areas.

So far there have been no attacks outside the five Muslim- dominated provinces, and the resort islands mentioned in the Bersatu warning are several hundred kilometers to the north.

Kitti Pattanajinda from the Phuket Tourism Association said the premier destination had suffered since last week's unprecedented violence, but that operators were optimistic bookings would recover.

"Of course it's affected (business). We are aware of some cancellations but it's not that many... it is about 10 to 20 percent," he said.

Kitti said authorities had boosted security at the airport and increased marine patrols including at the bridge connecting the island to the mainland.

Violence in the south has already seen Malaysian tourist numbers fall by up to 30 percent according to TAT figures, which show Malaysians account for 10 percent of the almost 10 million tourists who visit Thailand each year.

Officials in the deep south, which hosts the majority of Malaysian visitors, predicted shortly after the attack that the industry there would be completely devastated.

"Who will come to those three provinces after this incident has happened," said Uthai Varaonasukul, TAT assistant director for the region, adding that cancellations were as high as 100 percent in some areas.

Tourism officials have been anxiously monitoring the south since January when a fresh wave of violence flared in the region which has been plagued by sporadic separatist conflict for decades.

The crisis is only the latest shock to hit Thailand's tourism industry, after an outbreak of bird flu which killed eight people earlier this year .

Arrivals dropped 3.3 percent in 2003 to 9.7 million due to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which caused panic around the region and claimed nearly 800 lives worldwide.

The government predicted in January that with the SARS crisis behind it, tourist arrivals would bounce back in 2004 to a record high of 12 million.