BANGKOK/ SINGAPORE, Feb.11(Reuters)- Thai driver Amonchai Laodoungdee was living off the famous touk touk, carrying passengers to and from the bustling streets of Bangkok, but on Tuesday he waited for four hours at a shopping mall without a business.
"Doodle" driver Amonchai Laodoungdee waits for customers outside the shopping centre in Bangkok, Thailand, February 11,2020. REUTERS / Matthew Tostevin
Amonchai`s daily earnings have plummeted from about 1,300 baht ($41) to about 400 baht since the new word coronavirus spread from China last month. At first, he found that there were not as many Chinese tourists around him as there had been before, and now there were very few visitors from other countries.
"There are now fewer visitors to Thailand," he said. "
Such exclamations are becoming a day-to-day part of asian tourism, from street snack stands to high-end travel agencies, as more countries advise people to travel cautiously as the number of new cases of pneumonia hits exceeds a thousand.
Many asian tourism professionals say the decline has spread from chinese visitors to other asian and western countries, and they are no longer here, with fears that much of the 2020 season will likely see a sharp drop in visitors.
"It`s not just China, visitors from other countries are also delaying or cancelling travel, not just Singapore, but we`re seeing signs in other parts of Asia," Keith Tan, head of Singapore`s tourism agency, told journallist.
Some tourism officials say the market is resilient and is likely to bounce back once the epidemic is controlled.
However, with more than 40,000 confirmed cases this week, many fear that the tourism downturn could continue for months.
"We expect orders to fall by as much as 50 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year," said Alicia Seah, head of media at Dynasty Travel, a travel agency in Singapore.
** Significant decrease in visitors **
Economic bodies, such as thailand, that rely heavily on tourism, are particularly affected by travel restrictions and warnings. About 12% of Thailand`s gross domestic product (GDP) comes from foreign tourists.
"The impact today is not just for Chinese tourists, but for all visitors," Chairat Triratanajaraspon, chairman of Thailand`s tourism council, told Reuters.
Thailand`s tourism agency had predicted that a January-April decline in Chinese tourists would result in a loss of 95 billion baht ($3.05 billion) in revenue, but losses could widen as tourists from other countries now avoid travel as well.
Tourists are sharply reduced. From February 1 to 10, the Thai Travel Association recorded a 71% drop in visitor numbers from last year and a 99% drop in visitors from China.
Chairat said the typical February visitor figure was around 3 million and now expects a 50-60 percent drop in visitors, saying "the situation could last until March."
Hariyadi Sukamdani, head of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said 20,000 orders were cancelled in the Indonesian resort of Bali alone.
He doesn`t know exactly how many chinese or other visitors are, but he says some are worried about a persistent downturn, since april is usually the time for bookings for summer holidays.
**" must be miserable "**
In Vietnam, the date of cancellation of the order is extended to a later period.
The official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said last week that many inbound trips to Vietnam scheduled for March and April had been cancelled.
Vietnam`s National Tourism Administration estimates the cost of the coronavirus to the country`s tourism industry will range from $59 to $7.7 billion, the Daily Express reported Friday.
A travel source in Hanoi said the hotel`s occupancy budget had fallen by 20 per cent. The person would not be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"Really bad. we are now re-predicting. But the months of February and March must have been miserable. "
Virat Chaturaputpitak, managing director of Marwin Tours Asia and managing director of the Thai group, said fewer visitors had been seen from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
"In my opinion, the prospects for Easter in April are also poor. "said Virat.
"We just don`t know how long it will take to get the virus under control, and the news of new cases of infection every day means more people are reluctant to travel. "he added. (end)
Compilation Chen Zongqi / Du Mingxia / Wang Can / Liu Xiuhong / Zhang Ruoqi Review school Baiyun / Li Chunxi / Meizhen Cai / Zheng Yin
