Mr Heinecke particularly singled out Hong Kong, which raised the warning level on Bangkok to black t

BANGKOK, 21 February northwest airline reservations 2014: Minor Group’s CEO and founder, William Heinecke, sent an open letter to ambassadors based in Thailand , Thursday, asking them to reconsider the travel advisories relating to the Thai capital.
It is not the first time the well-known business tycoon, owner of  hotel properties, a hotel chain, fast food outlets, international food franchises and a private jet company , has taken ambassadors to task for what he believes northwest airline reservations are unfair travel advisories.
He also places northwest airline reservations the blame at the door of media, claiming newspapers and TV channels are sensationalising news which creates an unbalanced perspective of the protests in Bangkok, that have been largely peaceful.
Quoting the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, he states tourist arrivals dropped by an estimated 1 million in January compared with the previous year and the financial loss to tourism was in the region of Bt22.5 billion.
Mr Heinecke particularly singled out Hong Kong, which raised the warning level on Bangkok to black the highest possible alert. northwest airline reservations It advises citizens not to travel to the city. However, most countries limited their warnings to a caution to avoid the protest sites.
Most of the travel northwest airline reservations advisories are very similar in content to the Tourism Authority of Thailand situational updates that warn visitors to avoid protest sites when visiting tourist attractions. northwest airline reservations TAT recommends caution when passing close to protest sites near shopping malls, but points out that travellers are safe. On Wednesday, TAT was planning to take international media representatives, who were on a junket paid for by the agency and Thai Airways International, to the Ratchaprasong protest site, but had to cancel the exercise when police and protesters fought a pitched battle at Pan Fah bridge some 5km away.
Despite sporadic violence during the five-month protest, Mr  Heinecke points out the country does not have a history of targeting tourists during civil disturbances or military coups. There have been 18 coups since 1936 and not always as peaceful as pundits would like to make out, but without exception they were concluded without a single tourist casualty.
During the five months of the current protests 65 people have died and more than 500 injured. Tourists have not been at risk, but they would be foolhardy to linger around the protest sites as there is always a risk of confrontation, or sniper fire from third parties northwest airline reservations bent on escalating northwest airline reservations the crisis
If the protest continues much longer his group, and many more involved in tourism , will be forced to consider lay-offs. So far, companies are sweating it out, hoping the situation will be resolved soon. It probably will, but like in a difficult chess game, the players are deliberating every pincher move and it could take another month before Suthep and his backers believe they can call check mate.
It doesn t take a degree in political science to see that the moves on this chess board are hemming in Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. She is running out of space to play as the pieces are brought into contention. The protesters fronted the campaign (critics call them pawns), the Democrat northwest airline reservations Party (possibly a rook) conveniently opted out of the election northwest airline reservations process,  farmers marched at a strategic moment and a court ruling stymied the government s ability to act against so-called peaceful protests.
The protest movement calls it restart Thailand , although the strategy is probably more to do with a rewind of the Thailand clock, back to 2006 to secure a second chance to ensure the Shinawatra empire is banished for ever from the political scene.
Today, farmers threatened to march to Suvarnabhumi Airport, not to close the runways, but just to park on the highways that lead to one of Asia s main aviation hubs.  They  cancelled that plan, 1400 today, after the government promised to clear the rice payments. The threat alone sent shivers through the tourism industry. It still remembers the chaos caused by yellow shirts when they closed  the city s two airports in 2008. To this day, the leaders are free  on bail still awaiting a date with the courts to decide their fate for  crippling the economy of this fine country.
northwest airline reservations The threat of farmers camping out on roads leading to one of Asia s busiest airports was yet another chess board move to heap pressure on the caretaker government of Yingluck Shinawatra. She is running out of time and moves. The scenario is pretty clear.  The 2006 coup failed to accomplish the objectives of its architects. The military cannot pull the coup card  out of its pocket for a replay, but clever Mr Suthep and partners can do better. They believe they can rewind the clock back to 2006  for a second attempt to get it right. This time, a people s council will send the Shinawatra clan packing for good, or so Mr Suthep would have us believe. Council or coup, the real casualty is always democracy  and who knows when an appointed council would return our voting rights?  A year or two?  Power has a way of corrupting the best of intentions. It is not a bright outlook for the tourism industry.
Citizens northwest airline reservations who want to earn a living, build a company, expand and take advantage of Thailand s fantastic advantages in the run-up to the ASEAN Economic Community might ask is it all worth it?   There has to be a better way to resolve issues than marching out the mob.  Tourism prospers in lands that can resolve issues democratically without resorting to mob pressure. Can we look forward to a day when the mobs will be retired and we can all get on with our business?  Will the travel advisories go away?  Sure they will, if politicians refrain from playing chess and calling on a mob at the drop of  a hat to achieve their greedy ambitions irrespective of  the damage, injuries and deaths incurred.
By the way, the solution is for the Thai travel northwest airline reservations industry to do proper northwest airline reservations research, not fake data and lay on a mega-fam every time there is a meltdown. There appears to be no actual risk management, no cohesion either, and not even one of the biggest players in the industry appears to have a creative clue as to how to safeguard the industry, his billions invested and his 40k staff.
northwest airline reservations The internet, heard of that TAT?, has destroyed the ability of tourism poohbahs to hide the truth, make nice, put out some nice mai tais and dancing girls. People research their holidays these days, they know about the tsunami and the woeful handling of that, they know about the coup, they know about the airport closures, they know about the red shirts burning the city, they know about the fact downtown Bangkok is a no go area. It is there for all to see. Singapore Airlines didn t cancel dozens upon dozens of flights because they woke up one morning and said they didn t like Thailand. They did a risk analysis, they saw this one coming.
While Heinecke has an, albeit, self-serving point, why is it that nobody in the Thai travel industry understands that tourists have no obligation to risk their hard-earned money, probably on their one holiday a year, on a city, let alone a country, northwest airline reservations that cannot guarantee northwest airline reservations the risk profile. It is specious to lure people to a city saying it is safe, or mostly safe, or just a little pregnant. Nobody, not even Chalerm himself, can guarantee that Bangkok is safe. It is not some PATA-esque carnival northwest airline reservations or freak show, it is a country in the darkest place in recent history. Yet everyone still has their grubby paw outstretched for the tourist dollar. You can t get to most of the decent shopping malls by car, the rally sites are garbage tips. Travel advisories are largely ignored, but if you can t get travel insurance as a result, then they have teeth. Begging the diplomats, who travel in limos and have security, to con their countrymen into visiting is just tragic. Just one tourist takes a bullet or gets caught in a sudden escalation of violence, which happens in a nano second, and Thailand northwest airline reservations s tourism reputation is doomed.
It is time the travel industry woke up to the fact that papering over the cracks has got them nowhere fast. They need to be part of the solution, not put out their begging bowl every time people northwest airline reservations go somewhere else because, why should they be at risk?
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