THAILAND’S travel trade is stepping up safety measures after the country confirmed its first case of MERS last week.
Pornthip Hirunkate, vice president marketing at Tourism Council of Thailand, said it is important for people not to panic.
“The Ministry of Tourism and Sports as well as the Ministry of Public Health have been involved from the outset and have been in contact with our members, especially hotels where the chance of spread is greatest, and passed on valuable information about how to best deal with the situation.”
Hotels, airports and airlines have enhanced their health and safety procedures, but remain confident that the situation will not worsen as Thailand has only had a solitary case of MERS.
“Our team members have been briefed on MERS and countries where cases have been detected so they may be vigilant of any symptoms in guests or staff,” said Patrick Basset, COO for AccorHotels Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines.
He said AccorHotels staff have been told to report any potential cases to superiors for following up on and to stay at home if they themselves feel unwell.
Thailand’s international airports remain on high alert regarding the disease, while airlines such as Thai Airways and Nok Air are continuing special measures which have been in play since 2003’s SARS outbreak, including passenger screening, in-flight monitoring, sterilisation of aircraft and preventive measures regarding staff sanitation.
Meanwhile, travel into Thailand remains relatively unaffected as compared to the badly hit South Korea.
Diethelm Travel Group’s regional marketing and communications manager, Siprang Srinarintranon, said the company has not received any queries from clients regarding MERS in Thailand and is hopeful there would be no wider outbreak in the country.
