The Tourism Authority of Thailand is expecting that country’s upcoming Songkran festival will generate more tourism revenue than it did last yr, despite projections that the March 28 earthquake has dampened tourist arrivals to the dominion.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which epicentered in neighboring Myanmar, caused a constructing under construction near Bangkok’s famous Chatuchak market to collapse, raising questions on the safety of Thailand’s high-rise architecture.
Still, Thailand’s tourism authority, in a press release published Thursday, said that the multi-day festival event in mid-April — the country’s biggest — will generate 26.5 billion Thai baht ($763 million) in tourism revenue, a rise of 8% yr on yr.
Of that, an estimated 7.3 billion baht will come from some 476,000 international arrivals, in accordance with the discharge.
Thailand’s tourism ministry also doubled down on its 2025 foreign arrival forecast, with some 38 million visitors expected to reach this yr, in accordance with Reuters.
The country’s minister of tourism and sports said that while greater than 1,000 hotel rooms were canceled within the immediate aftermath of the quake, the impact of the natural disaster on tourism is predicted to be short term in nature, in accordance with the report.
Nonetheless, the Thai Hotels Association said it expects the earthquake will affect “the tourism atmosphere” during Songkran Festival 2025, in accordance with a Google translation of a neighborhood media report that the association linked to on its Facebook page.
The event, which is marked by joyous splashing of water in streets across the country, could also be “much more desolate than previously two years,” in accordance with the report, which stated that the association is expecting a drop of not less than 10%-15% in tourism income within the two weeks following the quake, before returning to normal some two weeks after that.
“The collapse of a constructing in Chatuchak area has gone viral online, raising questions on safety in Thailand. Due to this fact, it is rather essential to urgently construct confidence amongst tourists during this yr’s Songkran Festival,” the report said.
Rush to assuage concerns
Within the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, Thai officials rushed to assuage tourist concerns.
In a post-earthquake joint statement made by Thailand’s real estate and financial sectors, the chairman of the non-profit Federation of Thai Industries, Kriengkrai Thiennukul, said “Thailand stays a secure tourism destination, with government officials maintaining vigilant monitoring of conditions, conducting comprehensive constructing safety inspections, and providing support to those affected by the earthquake.”
Within the same statement, the president of the regulatory Council of Engineers Thailand said “All examined structures show earthquake resistance as they were designed in accordance with current seismic engineering standards.”
Lebua’s rooftop Sky Bar, which was featured within the film “The Hangover 2,” sits on the sixty fourth floor of Bangkok’s State Tower.
Reuters | Soe Zeya Tun
Still, some hotels reached out on to guests and staff to calm concerns in regards to the integrity of their buildings.
Narawadee Bualert, president and CEO of Lebua Hotels & Resorts, issued an announcement that said its location in Bangkok’s State Tower was inspected and “engineers confirmed that the earthquake had no impact on the structural integrity of the constructing.”
“Starting today, our website shall be updated each day with real-time safety updates … You will also find engineering reports, historical construction details, and visual documentation showing how Lebua was originally built to face up to each wind loads and seismic activity,” she wrote.
Thailand has been attempting to allay worries from Chinese travelers for years — but for a special reason. A fictional 2023 Chinese blockbuster film “No More Bets” depicted a Chinese couple lured to Southeast Asia by human traffickers — a fictional plot line which mirrored real life when the actor Wang Xing was kidnapped in Thailand in January.
Staying the course
Singaporean Morgan Awyong was in a restaurant in Bangkok’s Chinatown district when the earthquake struck.
“The water within the cups were moving, and the ceiling lights were all swaying,” he said. “Outside … birds were flying off, dogs were barking, and one after the other, the neighborhood alarms got here on.”
Office buildings and stores closed down, as did his hotel, to conduct checks of the constructing, he said. He added that he got a foot massage and returned to his hotel when it reopened.
He said friends he was traveling with “didn’t change their plans in any respect, especially when many of the services had resumed the following day.”
Thailand’s hospitality industry is hoping others follow suit, because the country basks in the eye and bookings spurred by season 3 of HBO’s hit show “The White Lotus,” filmed mainly in Koh Samui.
The country can also be expected to attract more visitors this yr following the legalization of same-sex marriage in January, which is ready to determine the country as regional destination wedding locale for gay couples.
In 2024, the country welcomed around 35 million international tourists — some 5 million below 2019’s numbers, in accordance with the World Bank.
— CNBC’s Bella Stoddart contributed to this report.
