Virus side-effects on tourism
Fewer tourists were seen on Saturday (February 1) at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha or Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram and the adjacent Grand Palace in Phra Nakhon district of Bangkok.
One of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangkok has been visited only by small groups of foreign tourists who had either arrived in Thailand by chartered flights or have been staying in the Kingdom since before the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has substantially impacted the number of foreign tourists throughout the country. Even those visiting the temple on Saturday were wearing face masks to protect themselves from infection.
The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce has forecast that if the outbreak prolonged until March, it could cost the Thai tourism industry between Bt80 billion to Bt100 billion or between 0.5 percentage point and 0.7 percentage point of the country’s gross domestic product.
The number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand is expected to decline by 2.4 million in the first half of this year as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country, according to TMB Analytics, an economic analysis division of TMB Bank.
