Update on Asia's Tourism Industry

The United Nations’ tourism organisation reported that international vacation travel could drop up to 2% in 2009 as the economic crisis worsens, said AP news. Asia faces a hard hit in its tourism industry. The World Bank also pointed out on April 7,2009, reported Xinhua News, that the region's low-income countries were expected to be among the worst affected by the economic slowdown. Here is a country-by-country report:

Cambodia

Cambodia reported a drop in the number of tourists to the country. In January 2009, tourist arrivals dropped 2.2%. Cambodia received around 2 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2008, a 5.5% rise over 2007, but slightly lower than the government's expectation according to official figures.

The Cambodia government launched a recent Tourism Branding Campaign "Cambodia -Kingdom of Wonder" aiming to widely promote the Cambodian coastal areas as a main distinct leisure attractive destination beside Angkor Wat as well as promoting Cambodian culture, tradition and civilization.



Thailand

According to the Thai Hotels Association, Thailand’s tourism industry has been impacted by three serious problems, domestic political turmoil, the global economic slowdown, and high competition from other tourist markets. Nationwide hotel occupancy will contract by 20-30% in the first quarter, causing the Tourism Authority of Thailand to miss this year’s 14 million tourist arrivals target, reported the Bangkok Post newspaper in March 2009. In advance of Thai New Year (Songkran) in April this year showed bookings in Chiang Mai were down 40%, while Phuket was down 30%. Pattaya bookings were down 25%, with Bangkok bookings flat. Thailand’s tourism industry will cut 50,000 jobs in the second half of this year, according to the Thai Hotels Association, which called on the government to solve the economic crisis and to end the ongoing political unrest which continues to hit the sector hard.

Previously, Thailand had high hopes of a recovery in tourism, particularly among retired and elderly people; however, depreciated assets due to the world financial crisis have prompted many tourists to avoid long-haul trips, reported the Bangkok Post. Ampon Kittiampon, Secretary General of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), the government’s planning agency, told the newspaper that Thailand should therefore not expect any surge in revenue from inbound tourism this year.

Weerasak Kohsurat, Chairman of the Tourism Authority of Thailand still sees multiple niche markets as the wave of the future. In an interview with Bangkok Post he believed that Thai tourism could shine brightly if the industry knows how to focus. He suggested looking beyond conventional travel sectors and recommending a closer look at unique markets. These include long-distance cycling, and so-called ‘‘meaningful tourists’’: those who love to learn about different lifestyles and help people in developing countries. He even includes travellers on luxury cruises. Recently, the Queen Mary 2, the largest cruise liner of The Cunard Line, with 2,400 passengers and 2,200 crew, stopped at Laem Chabang port last month for one day and let its passengers experience Thailand. The Cunard Line released its world cruise itinerary for 2010, which includes calls by the Queen Mary 2 at two ports in Thailand: Laem Chabang and Phuket. The Queen Victoria will call at Laem Chabang, Phuket and Koh Samui. Weerasak said this should lead to more cruises to Thailand in the future. Further, he said
Thailand tourism agents should not forget to promote regional tourists who are increasingly arriving on low-cost flights as well.

Vietnam

The Vietnam News agency said that nearly a million foreign visitors arrived in the first quarter of 2009, but the 992,000 arrivals were still 16% fewer than in the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office. Do Trong Tan, deputy head of the Centre for Tourism Consulting and Promotion, predicted the volume of foreign visitors to Viet Nam would rebound by later in 2009 or early 2010, but it had become unlikely that the country would reach its target for the year of 4.5 million arrivals.

The number of visitors coming from mainland China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan fell sharply during the period, off 11-25% from 2008. Only arrivals from the US, Australia and Canada saw increases, rising 5-17%.

The Government has already decided to spend over US$200,000 to promote Vietnam’s image on the BBC as well as on taxis in London, although some travel firms have already expressed doubts about the feasibility of the plan, reported Vietnam News. "It’s necessary for Vietnam to introduce itself to the world through the international channels," said Vietnam Advertising Association Vice Chairman Ha Van Tang. "But when we should advertise, what aspects of our tourism experience we should introduce and who we should targets are all matters of importance." Under a schedule prepared by the Department of International Co-operation of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the marketing campaign will be carried on BBC World with 320 30-second spots shown eight weeks in the Asia Pacific, six weeks in Europe and six weeks in America.

China

According to the National Tourism Administration, in 2008 China's tourism revenue reached 1.16 trillion yuan ($170 billion), up 5.8 percent year-on-year. However, BBC news reported the falling number of people visiting China was a 2% drop. This marked the first fall in five years, the news said quoting the official data. The data showed that the visitor numbers dropped to 130 million in 2008, down by two million, as a result of the economic crisis.
Analysts say increased security measures put in place for the Beijing Olympics, such as tougher visa requirements ahead of the Games, plus the economic climate, may also have had an impact. The number of foreign tourists to Beijing in August fell far short of the government's estimated 500,000.

"All major inbound source markets, except for Hong Kong and Russia, slumped last year [2008] amid the economic downturn," said the tourism administration's chief, Shao Qiwei, quoted by the state-run China Daily. In a statement in November, China's tourism agency said "a series of serious natural disasters and sudden incidents" also affected the growth of tourism, reported the BBC news. This was likely to be a reference to last year's snow storms in southern China, the Sichuan earthquake that left 90,000 people dead or missing, and the fatal riots in Tibet.

The tourism administration department was still forecasting a 1.5% growth in visitors and the government is counting on domestic travel to give the tourism industry a boost in 2009. China also looks forward to increased numbers of Chinese traveller abroad. According to China Daily newspaper, some 45 million Chinese travelled abroad in 2008, and the government hopes to double that number by 2012.
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