Ahead of the peak season for outbound travel, fresh violence in Thailand, one of the most popular destination for Indians, has sent holiday plans awry.
In the coming days, cancellations are expected to go upto 30% as the Indian embassy in Thailand has issued a fresh travel advisory for travelers on Friday, advising precautions for personal safety, including avoiding certain areas.
Every year, about 5,00,000 Indians visit Bangkok . While the Thai capital has been amidst volatility recently, the fresh violence following the ouster of Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck, is likely to be a dampener for Indians planning to visit the Thai capital. The outgoing traffic to Bangkok has been growing at about 15% a year.
According to Gour Kanjilal of IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators ) the cancellation was already being witnessed as far as Thailand is concerned but this could go down after the fresh travel advisory. IATO has over 1600 members.
The advisory from the embassy said, “Indian tourists and residents in Thailand are advised to take precautions for their personal safety, including by avoiding the areas mentioned above along with Lumpini park area, and other places of demonstrations, political gatherings, marches etc. They are advised to regularly monitor the situation through the local media, hotels, tour operators etc. Travelers coming from or going to the airport may factor in at least one additional hour for travel to/from the city in view of potential traffic jams.”
“Thailand is one of the most popular destinations for Indians now the latest round of instability in the country would restrict travelers to go there. Already about 20% trips were being canceled as the country has been amidst violence. This could well may touch around 30% after the PM fiasco,” Kanjilal said, adding that people were either opting for domestic travel or shifting their plans to other Asian destinations.
Leading travel portals are issuing notices to those who have already reached Bangkok to stay away from locations expected to be volatile.
Shibani Phadkar, senior vice-president and head of leisure travel (outbound), products, contracting, operations & tour management, Thomas Cook India said,“At Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. safety and security of our customers is of paramount importance and our on-ground managers and local travel partners have apprised us that they are closely monitoring the developments and will take every precaution to ensure passenger’s safety. Thailand, being a short haul destination, its diversity of price points from value to luxury, has been a top favorite of the Indian traveler and at Thomas Cook India, we see strong interest for the summer season. Places other than Bangkok which are showing strong uptake are Krabi, Koh Samui and Phuket.”
However, according to Karan Anand of Cox & Kings, important tourist places such as Siam Center, Siam Discovery, Siam Paragon and CentralWorld Shopping Complexes on Rama I Road as well as Major Cineplex on Ramkhamhaeng Road are open as normal.
