DESTINATION Asia (Thailand) has defended its stance on providing clients with daily updates on Bangkok’s political demonstrations, with its chief Addie Pornthip Hirunkate explaining that the situation then was fluid and regular updates were necessary.
Addie’s response followed an opinion piece by TTG Asia Media’s senior editor, Raini Hamdi, in TTG Asia February 21-March 13 which questioned the need for daily situation updates and urged tourism players to move quickly into tactical mode to win back tourists to Thailand.
“The demonstrations did seriously impact our day-to-day operations due to the many road blockades, making it virtually impossible to transfer clients to their chosen hotels in some locations or to navigate around the city in a timely manner,” said Addie, managing director of Destination Asia (Thailand), in a letter to the travel trade newspaper.
“As a responsible tour operator we took the stance to be pro-active and to respond to our clients’ needs with regards to daily updates – as the situation was and still is a dynamic and ever.
“In addition, our daily updates were also picked up and quoted by the likes of the US Embassy here in Bangkok and other local media outlets which needed a source of daily information.”
Addie also explained that when dealing with sensitive markets, as in Bangkok’s case, inaction on the part of the company can have consequences.
During the peak of the unrest the company was being contacted on a daily basis for updates on the situation and advice on whether trips to Thailand should be curtailed or deferred.
“We have had a lot of positive feedback from our agents and clients alike with regards to the daily updates…so being pro-active and putting a positive spin on the situation paid off for us,” she said, adding that the company had “virtually nil” cancellations from its main leisure markets.
“We have no regrets providing a voice of reason on the ground for our agents and clients to make informed decisions prior to travelling to Thailand,” she concluded.
James Reed, Destination Asia’s CEO and group managing director, also wrote in to credit the company’s experienced crisis management team: “Destination Asia has also directly assisted Thailand as a whole – including all of its travel industry stakeholders and 60 million citizens – in projecting a positive worldwide message that the travel industry is handling the crisis in a professional, measured, calm and pro-active way.”
