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Article: War to dampen Thai tourism. (Business Travel).
- Article from:
- Business Asia
- Article date:
- March 1, 2003
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Fears of a war in Iraq have taken a heavy toll on Thailand's tourism industry, which has seen a plunge in group tour bookings this year, a top industry executive says.
Apichart Sangkha-aree, vice-president of the Association of Thai Travel Agencies (ATTA), said that Thai tour operators had received significantly fewer advance bookings from American, European and Middle Eastern groups for the next summer season.
"The hardest hit are high-end Thai hotels, some of which have found room bookings disappearing. In a normal year, most summer group tours would have confirmed their bookings by now. For this year, we have got only 20 to 30 per cent of them," ...