To Reboot Pandemic Hit Thai Travel Sector, Authorities Lure Foreign Film Producers
There is no denying the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has struck the Thai travel sector, forcing a long-term halt on jobs across the hospitality and aviation sector. Since foreign tourist arrivals dropped to 6.7 million in 2020, touching their lowest levels in past 12 years, the country’s tourism authorities have been generously searching for ways to lure international tourists.
From promoting domestic tourism to initiating travel bubbles, Thailand has adopted various strategies to keep the Thai travel sector’s ship sailing. Under their recent action plan, the country’s tourism authorities are trying to attract regional and international film crews. As reported by the Bangkok Post, the country is targeting well-known directors and A-list actors who work with film productions interested in making big budget films.
By hosting such foreign film productions, the Thai travel sector plans to generate over three billion baht (US$100 million). As stated by the Director-General of the Tourism Department Anant Wongbenjarat, these productions can help to “generate income for locals, despite the tourism slowdown”.
As per Thailand’s Tourism Department, the country generated over 1.73 billion baht for the local economy by hosting 176 international film productions in 2020. The statistics reveal a major drop from the 4.86 billion baht earned via same sources in 2019.
Recent research has revealed that the country is expecting to host over 12 film productions in 2021, which will create huge employment opportunities for locals hired in the Thai travel sector. Besides boosting revenue at the country’s tourist spots, film production crew members are considered good customers of the hotel industry too. Since film-making is a time-consuming process, longer hotel stays bring in extra bucks for the hospitality sector.
Over the past few months, strict quarantine requirements have affected the earnings of hospitality groups across Thailand, pushing some to an unfortunate shut down. To protect the crippled industry, many hotel operators are proposing the government to permit entry of vaccinated travellers without quarantine. The Chairman of Minor International (Thailand’s largest listed hotel and hospitality) Willaim Heinecke said, “There are tremendous numbers of people who won’t come to Thailand, or won’t come to any country that has a quarantine, because it takes too much time”.
As vaccine distribution has started across the country, travel and hospitality industry experts have requested the government to prioritise vaccinating workers of hospitality sector. By doing so, the government would not only protect travellers and boost tourism revenue, but also reduce risk of infection.
While the government is still considering this proposal, the idea seems to be a great way to kick start an early recovery of the Thai travel sector. Countries welcoming vacationers without strict quarantine rules will definitely make it to the 2021 bucket list of all travellers waiting to travel at the first safe opportunity available.
