The imprudent decision to return anti-covid measures turned into a real “tsunami” of cancellations for Thailand. At the same time, it is not a fact that all the tourists who canceled the trip will decide to return after the Thai government withdrew its own decision, The Thaiger writes concerning the tourism industry associations.
So, as the management of the Association of Phuket Travel Agencies (PTA) said, at the time of Sunday there were at least 1,000 cancellations of hotel reservations from Scandinavia alone, and the cancellations came one after the other. According to PTA Association President-Consultant Phumkit Raktaengam, business owners in Phuket were incredibly outraged by such a “gift” from the authorities and do not agree with the government’s recent measures.
Foreign travel agencies they are in contact with were also confused and outraged, they said, and recalled that the Thai authorities had promised not to introduce any new measures against Covid. There is a claim from Britain that Thailand should notify the travel industry in advance because most of the travel company’s customers have booked their holidays without any restrictions and are now facing mass cancellations. Also, travel agencies from Germany and the Scandinavian countries were forced to refund many of their clients who canceled trips and vented their legitimate indignation at their Thai colleagues. The changes also affected Russia, and, according to the Thai media, tourists from the aggressor’s country were even asked to cancel their charters.
As a result, on Sunday, RTA representatives sent a letter to the relevant government departments “to propose a solution that best suits the Thai economy.” It will be recalled that Thailand quickly “backtracked” on the return of the covid restrictions: the new rules did not have time to work out half a day after the government officially announced their cancellation. Thailand’s Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has issued a statement officially ending the policy requiring visitors to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19. He cited the sufficient level of immunization in China and around the world as the reason. However, there is a risk that it will take much longer for Thailand to “untangle” the image consequences of a reckless decision…