Thai Tourism Hit Hard by Adverse Publicity

Thailand Tourism Authority (TAT) has revealed a drop of up to 30 percent visitor arrivals in the southern province of Thailand as a result of adverse publicity over two women tourists raped, resulting in one death.

The incidents have hit the country´s tourism industry at a time when it is still reeling from the financial impact of the tsunami attacks, SARS, scare over avian flu, and a series of devastating bomb attacks in the southern provinces.

Figures show Surat Thani, which includes Koh Samui suffered a 30 percent drop in visitor arrivals during the first month of 2006. A third of the expected visitors to Koh Samui and nearby island Koh Pha-ngan have cancelled trips to the islands.

The drop of up to 10 percent visitor numbers from Australia has prompted national carrier Thai International to cancel direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to the southern resort town Phuket.

An even bigger number of British tourists have cancelled holiday plans." I do not think the murder have influenced young women who planned to travel alone, but it should have a short-term effect," said Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) spokesman Sean Tipton. "The murder was horrific, but on the whole Thailand is very safe."

Phuket provincial police chief has also been quoted to say he has ordered aerial inspection plans by having police helicopters fly around the islands twice a week during the tourists high season.

Thailand is determined to keep the country a top destination for foreigners as the tourism industry contributes as much as 6 percent of the country´s gross national product (GNP).