A severe fuel bottleneck across Thailand is disrupting tour bus operations and stalling forward bookings, prompting the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) to call for urgent government intervention.

Restricted fuel distribution means groups currently travelling face insufficient supply, particularly on overland routes. This inadequate supply, alongside volatile fuel prices, is severely hampering future sales planning for both travel agents and bus companies.

“The first issue right now is that bus operators cannot calculate costs in advance, making forward booking and advance planning a major problem,” said Adith Chairattananon, honorary secretary-general of ATTA and owner of Golden Discovery Express.

For his own company’s group tours, Adith noted that operations are already taking defensive pricing measures to protect margins against operational uncertainties.

“We have to mark up the bus fare by 20 per cent in advance because we must communicate directly with the clients that fuel prices are fluctuating, and since we cannot be sure, we need to have a buffer,” Adith said.

He added that while group tours are not yet seeing outright cancellations, bookings are currently being postponed and left pending.

The crisis threatens to derail the upcoming Songkran travel period. Upcountry hotel bookings are slowing without clarity, as domestic travellers are hesitant to confirm plans over fears of empty petrol stations. Some locals are even carrying reserve fuel in their private vehicles to ensure they reach their destinations.

“If the government cannot solve the fuel shortage at petrol stations within the next week, Songkran will definitely be affected,” Adith said.

He noted that this festive travel period is a critical driver for injecting money into the rural economy. A disruption to this seasonal movement will negatively impact the broader economic base during the country’s primary holiday period.

International inbound markets are also reflecting the strain. Flight loads for the foreign market dropped from 60 per cent last week to between 35 and 40 per cent.

To counter the compounding pressures, the private sector is requesting a 15 billion baht (US$459.2 million) stimulus budget from the new government. The trade hopes this will be proposed to parliament as an urgent policy. Last year, the tourism sector generated 2.7 trillion baht, accounting for 13 per cent of GDP and employing four million people.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s worst-case scenario assesses that tourist arrivals could drop from 33 million to 27 million this year.

“A loss of six million tourists means we will lose up to 300 billion baht in the economy,” Adith said.

ATTA is convening this week for its annual general meeting to evaluate the geopolitical impact of the Gulf War on Thailand, featuring insights from geopolitics expert Surachart Bamrungsuk. The association intends to leverage this expertise to push for proactive mitigation measures rather than reactive policies.

“Thailand often waits for a crisis to happen before recovering and restoring, which is more costly than implementing pre-emptive mitigation measures,” Adith concluded.