THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has pledged its assurance that the Bangkok protests by “red shirt” supporters of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra pose no risk to tourists from across the region, including Brunei.
In an exclusive interview with The Brunei Times during a familiarisation trip hosted by the TAT for Brunei travel agents and media, Wiboon Nimitrwanich, TAT director for Malaysia and Brunei, said that tourists can rest assured that their safety will be given top priority, especially for those travelling to Thailand through travel agencies.
“Our local inbound operators will for sure take care of them, as long as they don’t wander around during their leisure time and get in the middle of a brawl between the army and the red shirts at reported areas in Thailand,” Wiboon said.
The group of Brunei travel agencies and media, who attended the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai from April 10-14 and stayed a further two days in Bangkok (until yesterday), witnessed no protests taking place during the celebrated week of the Thai New Year. The tour party will return to Brunei today.
The purpose of the visit was to promote the northern provinces of Thailand, particularly Chiang Mai, as another popular destination in Thailand for Bruneian tourists, in addition to Bangkok.
Wiboon added that tourism promotion was a two-way street, and that Brunei had “something to offer” to tourists.
“We will continue to promote Brunei and update our (Thai tourists) who would like to visit Brunei with the latest information that we have about the Sultanate,” he said.
He added that although the TAT was continuously pushing for more tourists to visit Thailand in order to maintain tourism as a main source of income for the country, the TAT would still accommodate any request or inquiries about the Sultanate through their land-based operators.
“After all, Brunei and Malaysia are both our competitors and our partners,” the director said.
“We want to promote cultural events, like Songkran for this time of the year, and other activities that Bruneians can do in Thailand, not just shopping,” Wiboon said, adding that most Bruneians travel to Thailand to shop.
An elephant sprays water on foreign tourists in Bangkok to celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year. The Tourism Authority of Thailand maintain that foreign tourists are safe from the current 'red shirt' street protests. Picture: EPA
To encourage tourists to visit Thailand, the Thai government last month waived tourist visa fees until March 31, 2011 and offers US$10,000 ($13,800) free riot insurance for tourists who find themselves unavoidably caught up in the unrest.
Tan Peng Hui, travel consultant at Century Travel Services, said that the trip was very interesting and provided him with more knowledge about Thailand that should prove useful for marketing tours.
“In Chiang Mai, apart from shopping, there are a lot of places to visit, like the zoo and Doi Suthep, and the Elephant Conversation Centre in (neighbouring province) Lampang,” he said.
“Hopefully, we will be able to promote other activities in Thailand, although we always have to include shopping for our clients,” Tan added.
Dora Yap, Thai Airways International Sales Representative for Brunei, said that the trip should not be seen as a move to promote Bruneians to travel out of the country more but rather as an opportunity for the country to be introduced to other foreign tourists.
Subconsciously, Bruneian travellers are promoting the Sultanate to tourists from other countries, she said. “People will get to hear about Brunei from their own people, which I think is another effective way of marketing your country, through word of mouth, aside from just pamphlets and brochures,” she explained.
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