Thailand: Bank of Thailand warns of tourism meltdown

• Thailand’s tourism industry will face greater risks next year if the government continues to restrict foreign travellers from entering the country, says the Bank of Thailand.
• Foreign arrivals could be downgraded from a projection of 8 million in 2020 and 16 million 2021 given the deflated tourism outlook, said Don Nakornthab, senior director of the economic and policy department.
• The Tourism and Sports Ministry and the National Economic and Social Development Council already cut their projections for 2020’s foreign tourist arrivals to 6.7 million and 2021’s to 12 million.
• The difference of 1.3 million foreign arrivals this year in projections from the central bank and the two state organisations would result in a 0.5% decline in Thailand’s GDP, said Mr Don.
• The loss cannot be computed directly into full-year GDP calculations because there are other economic factors to be considered, he said.
• The central bank also factored in the possibility of a second wave outbreak as other Asian countries have suffered this predicament. New infections of around 20-30 cases per day are acceptable, he said.

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