Please don’t koh
Talk about mixed messages! No sooner has tourism in Thailand entered the recovery stage, with the government trumpeting the restorative powers of the industry after two long years of Covid-enforced inactivity, than along comes a respected travel publisher telling us not to visit the Southeast Asian nation in 2023, or to at least think long and hard about doing so.
“A revival in tourism helped [the Thai economy] expand at the fastest pace in more than a year last quarter,” reported the Bloomberg newswire last week.
With a weak baht adding to the appeal of the country to foreign visitors, “at least 1.5 million visitors a month are expected during the remainder of the year”, adding to the 7.56 million who had already arrived in 2022 by the end of October.
As in other tourist magnets across the country, Pattaya, a resort city 100km southeast of Bangkok, is certainly seeing the return of tourists as a positive.
Thanet Supornsahasrangsi, president of the Tourism Council of Chonburi, told the Bangkok Post recently that Pattaya is looking forward to a 60 to 70 per cent room occupancy rate this New Year, compared with 30 to 40 per cent at the height of the pandemic. Even Russians, 70 per cent of Pattaya’s clientele prepandemic, are expected to return in numbers, although the Chinese will continue to be greatly missed.
The Bangkok Post article also reports on moves being made by the National Audio-Visual Committee of the Department of Cultural Promotion to push Thailand’s soft power by granting benefits to foreign film crews and giving prizes to Thai artists, athletes and entertainers who promote their country’s culture on the international stage.
Bloomberg explains the importance of the industry to Thailand: “Overseas tourism makes up some 12 per cent of the economy, while the travel sector as a whole accounts for a fifth of jobs.” And what’s expected from it: “Revenue from foreign tourist arrivals may jump to 1.2 trillion baht [HK$260 billion] in 2023 from about 0.57 trillion baht this year.” The National Economic and Social Development Council foresees overseas arrivals rising to 23.5 million from the 10.2 million seen this year.
But not if Fodor’s Travel has anything to do with it.
The publisher of travel information compiles an annual “No List”, to highlight ethical, environmental and sometimes political issues that should be considered by the traveller or tourist before they plump for a destination.
“For this year’s No List, we’re highlighting destinations to reconsider visiting in 2023 in three main categories: natural attractions that could use a break in order to heal and rejuvenate; cultural hotspots that are plagued with overcrowding and resource depletion; and locations around the world immediately and dramatically impacted by water crises,” explains Fodor’s.
“This year’s No List does not serve as a boycott, ban, or cancellation of any sort,” the publisher stresses, “but a call to travellers to consider wisely the choices we make.” Presumably, though, some readers will wisely consider themselves into other arrangements after reading the cold, hard truths about the 10 regions contained in Fodor’s latest No List, one of which is Thailand.
Oddly, given Fodor’s reasoning, the Land of Smiles is included in the “overcrowded hotspot” group rather than with the “healing break” crowd.
“Thailand […] would like to shed its hedonistic mass tourism reputation and attract a different type of traveller post-pandemic,” says Fodor’s. “Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn proposed that the focus should be on ‘high-end travellers, rather than a large number of visitors.’ Seeing the environmental benefits reaped during the pandemic when all 155 of Thailand’s natural parks closed, Natural Resources and Environment minister Varawut Silpa-archa has directed each park to shut every year for at least one month.”
The Fodor’s folk point specifically to the oft-repeated case study of Maya Bay, which was closed for three-and-a-half years to help it recover from overtourlanguage ism. (It’s obligatory to point out whenever Maya Bay is mentioned that this picturesque bay on Phi Phi Leh island was featured in the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach). They also point out that Koh Tao instituted a visitor fee in April because tourism had put a strain on the island’s marine environment.
There’s more to Thailand than its islands, though, and Fodor’s makes no mention of overcrowding or resource depletion in Pattaya, Bangkok or Chiang Mai, and if you still must go island hopping, “visitors should disperse and redirect toward lesser-known destinations during less busy periods to ease the pressure on mainstream hotspots. Thailand-based holiday operator Tripseed founder Ewan Cluckie notes how travellers overlook remarkable Thai islands such as Koh Mak, Koh Yao, and Koh Kood due to limited promotion.”
So don’t koh with the flow, that is the message.
The places joining Thailand in the No List’s “suffering cultural hotspots” group are (1) Italy’s Venice and Amalfi Coast;
(2) Cornwall, England, where “crumbly” describes both the local pasties and the local infrastructure; and (3) Amsterdam, Netherlands, whose marketing strategy has morphed from destination promotion to destination management.
Those places deemed in need of a break for nature’s sake are (1) France’s cliffs and Calanques, the latter being the name of a national park that has introduced a reservation system for visitors wishing to set foot on its beaches; (2) Lake Tahoe, California, which is suffering an infestation of motor cars; and (3) Antarctica, one of the places on Earth most susceptible to climate breakdown.
Water is vital for life on this planet, and securing plentiful supplies of the fresh stuff is increasingly problematic. “According to research conducted by the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, countries projected to have the highest water stress in the coming years are also among those with significant tourism growth. The latter is exacerbating the water crisis,” explains Fodor’s. It identifies the three places most at risk as: (1) Maui, Hawaii, where water restrictions are placed on locals but not tourists; (2) the Southern European Watershed, which includes Spain, Greece and northern Italy; and (3) the American West, where the reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell have almost run dry.