The survival strategies of inbound tour operator in Thailand

Abstract

Tourism industry is one of the most important sectors in Thailand. However, it is the most sensitive industry to any crisis, whether natural disaster, terrorism, political instability, economic, or disease. The spread of COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the tourism industry worldwide, Thailand is no exception. This research attempts to study the impact and provide the survival strategies for inbound tour operators in Thailand. This qualitative research uses in-depth interviews with semi-structured questions as a research tool. The researcher interviewed six tour operators in major cities across Thailand namely, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket. It was found that tour operators in Thailand suffered notably bad effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the businesses had to down-size their organisations, require staff to leave without pay or even lay-off staff since there are no international tourist arrivals due to the closured borders during country-wide lockdowns. It also found that government policies toward financial and other assistance were not flexible nor effective enough. For example, regards short-term loans, tourism businesses did not have sufficient collateral, so they couldn’t borrow money. This is the reason why the tourism businesses lacked adequate financial liquidity. As a result, tourism businesses need learn the lessons from this pandemic and prepare for future challenges to survive in the tourism industry.