Only few people are seen at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Photo: AFP/VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai Government has been urged tohelp 15,000 tour operators at risk of collapse due to stagnant cash flow.
Vichit Prakobgosol, President of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (Atta),said at least 11 troubled sectors still cannot access the government's aidmeasures for businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Tourism workers need financial aid from the Social Security Fund (SSF), as wellas hotel workers who automatically receive compensation from the fund whenfollowing provincial orders to close hotels temporarily to curb the infection, Vichitsaid.
Apart from 15,000 inbound, outbound and domestic tour operators that have morethan 300,000 employees, other sectors that should be included in the scheme areland-sea-air transport, restaurants, souvenir shops, recreation, MICE(meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions), and domestic andinternational tourism relations.
The SSF should support tourism workers by giving back 62 percent of theirsalary when employers shut down business by themselves without an officialorder,” he said.
At present, tour guides already received financial support — 5,000-THB monthlyhandouts — to relieve the mounting financial pressure from paralysed tourism.
The Tourism and Sports Ministry assured hoteliers that they would be includedin the benefit, even hotels that decided to close of their own accord.
Other tourism sectors still need financial assistance to help them stay afloat,Vichit said.
According to an Atta survey, tour operators have sufficient cashflow to survive for just two months. If they have to bear labour costs withouthelp from available sources, some may collapse by that time.
The country’s tourism industry was the first segment hit by the outbreak at theend of January. The situation was worse in March when the government imposedmeasures restricting international and domestic connections to contain thevirus spread.
Data released by the Tourism and Sports Ministry shows that Thailand’s tourismrevenue fell nearly 40 perccent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020 to335 billion THB (10.25 billion USD). The number of foreign visitors to Thailandin the period was 6.7 million, down 38 percent from the same period lastyear./.
VNA
