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The Australian bushfires may cost the tourism industry $4.5 billion as Americans, Chinese, Brits and other holidayers stop traveling there.

News of mass evacuations, burnt-out communities, dead wildlife and thick smoke haze beamed around the world have taken their toll says the tourism industry. Both domestic and overseas holidayers, scared off by the fires, are cancelling holiday trips and hotels .

Holiday cancellations from key markets including the U.S., Britain and China have flowed in according to peak industry body, the Australian Tourism Export Council .  The entire industry has been hit says its director, Peter Shelley. Poor air quality, safety concerns, and lack of certainty on recovery are the key culprits he tells The Financial Review .

The figure comes from a survey of the ATEC’s members, who say all sectors of the tourism market have been affected: “from high net worth individuals cancelling a trip that was to include multiple luxury lodges in most states, through to ‘mums and dads’ opting out of a local cruise or a nature-based experience,” Shelley says.

ATEC says Australia’s tourism export sector is worth about $40 billion to the economy. So it would seem over a tenth of that has gone down the drain with the bushfires. The losses way outshine the $1 billion losses put by the Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC).

Fires Keep Australian & International Holidayers At Home

The fires have killed 29 people and “razed bushland across an area the size of Bulgaria” according to SBS news .

Now largely under control, the infernos that ripped down the southeast coast of Australia over the New Year wiped out high-season tourism in many coastal towns.

ATIC says booking cancellations for hotels and other accommodation even in non-fire zones have reached 60% and over. Make that nil for fire-hit areas.

“People have basically stopped travel… And that’s absolutely understandable: human nature kicks in,” Simon Westaway, executive director of the Australian Tourism Industry Council told Reuters.

Boom Or Bust With Bushfire Toll

It’s still too early to know how the fires will impact overseas tourism for Q1-2020. International visitor numbers have been steadily rising over past years, with a 10% jump between 2017 and 2019. That’s up to 9.3 million from 8.1 million according to Tourism Australia statistics.

This owes largely to booming markets such as India, China, the U.S. and New Zealand flagged in a recent government report . Now the “industry hopes the bushfires won’t bust our boom,” reports The Australian .

‘Holiday In Your Own Backyard’

Tourism players country-wide are calling on holidayers to help the recovery, and return to their regions.

A social media movement, Stay With Them has joined the drive to help these communities. As has naturally Tourism Australia .

“Now’s the time to really kick start the recovery, by holidaying in our own backyard and supporting the many communities and local operators who rely so much upon our patronage and our tourism dollars,” says spokesperson Leo Seaton.

The fires he says have put a huge damper on the New Year for Australia’s travel industry.

“The start of 2020 should have been a milestone for celebration. Sadly, Australia’s tourism industry has ushered in the decade in much more somber fashion, with the devastation caused by the terrible bushfires.”

Viral images, spread on social media , exaggerating the fire situation, have not helped. Pictures showing the entire country ablaze are being blamed for playing a hand in scaring off many tourists.

Meanwhile Tourism Australia was forced to pull its Kylie Minogue-led $15 million advertising campaign in Britain , launched as the bushfires raged late December. The contrast between the images it projected and those of the fires and burnt-out communities was too much for some.

Have you heard that Australia is burning? …

“Viral misinformation” on Australia’s bushfires has apparently been spreading like wildfire over the past weeks, wreaking havoc on the country’s tourism industry.

That’s the word from Tourism Australia, whose representatives are seeking to reverse the damage done by what many are labelling “fake news.”

Yesterday on LinkedIn Leo Seaton, the organisation’s GM of Media and Communication (his profile marks him as a ‘senior corporate communications professional’ at Parliament House in NSW), reacted saying the national tourism authority has released its own interactive map to counter the “viral fire misinformation”–and try and nip the tourism harm nationwide in the bud.

“There have been a few maps being shared on social media giving the inaccurate impression that much of Australia is on fire. To help counter such unhelpful viral misinformation, Tourism Australia has created an interactive bushfires map of its own showing the true impact of the fires,” his post reads.

One of the culprit maps is that being spread by MyFireWatch which claims to provide people with “ possible bushfire location information, derived from satellitelite (sic) imagery in a quickly accessible form, designed for general public use.”

Little worry that the word ‘satellite’ is completely illegible to the general public visiting its website. Even more astounding that the map comes from a site hosted by West Australia’s state land information agency Landgate.

The map has been spread virally on social media with untrue (and totally ridiculous headlines) such as: “Just a reminder … the whole continent has become a large inferno.”

Of it, senior research scientist at the CSIRO, Dr Juan Guerschman, told the ABC : “The user may end up with a false impression that much more of the area is burning than what it really is, which is bad already anyway.”

Then there are the 3D images showing Australia as a blob of molten hot lava that have been shared by the likes of singer Rihanna (75.5 thousand times in her case alone).  The image by Brisbane photographer Anthony Hearsey has since been flagged as “false information” by Facebook and Instagram, partly for claiming to be a NASA photograph.

These images paint quite a different picture from Tourism Australia’s map, which says Seaton, “highlights some of the most popular Australian tourism destinations visited by international tourists, indicating whether they have been affected by bushfires or are safe to visit. The map shows impacted, partially impacted and non-impacted areas.

“As you’ll see, the reality is that most of our top tourism destinations are unaffected, remain safe and are ready to welcome visitors,” he concludes. “Please take a look and share. You’ll be helping thousands of tourism businesses around the country.”

Is the Tourism Australia map totally accurate? There are no fires shown in either Queensland or West Australia.

“The map is not intended to show a complete list of bushfire affected regions in Australia,” Seaton tells me. “That’s made clear on the website … what we’ve tried to do is depict popular tourism destinations for international travellers, and show whether and how they have been impacted by the current bushfires.”

So going back to the idea that “Australia is burning”, repeated sincerely and alarmingly by many journalists, experts and other observers over past weeks. In a sense, it is very true, with the unprecedented scale of bushfires that have ripped down the south-east coast over the past weeks, and terrifying scenes we as a nation have witnessed. For me on New Years Eve, it was a natural expression that came to mind, watching my country “blazing furnace and furious”.

Prior to that large areas of regional New South Wales and Queensland were already alight for months, since early November at least. What Australians have experienced for the New Year has seemed like an Apocalypse for most, and pushed the urgent need for climate change action to a cliff edge.

28 fires, hundreds of thousands of animals, and thousands of homes have so far perished in the fires. So metaphorically at least, it seems like Australia has been burning, even if we know the fires are restricted to several zones.

For the world, Australia is now seen as as critical litmus test. For scientists a “ harbinger ”of the future. “The wicked, self-destructive idiocy of climate denialism must stop,” writes former PM, Malcolm Turnbull, for Time .

As to the viral maps and images, of the whole country ablaze in angry red flames, they are of course intentionally exaggerated, and wildly misleading–and need to be stamped out.

The Full Moon Party week is just wrapping on the island of Koh Phangan, and while attendance was down, there was at least one special attendee that could influence the future of the party. Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakarn visited Haad Rin, home of the iconic party that draws tens of thousands of tourists to the island each month.

The minister saw the huge boost to tourism that the party brings as young tourists from around the country flock to the south of the island each month and fill accommodations, restaurants, bars, and shops and vowed to support the Full Moon Party. He observed people arriving on the island all day and well into the night on speed boats operating from Koh Samui for hours after the normal ferries had finished for the day, and saw people disappointed at early closures of what used to be an all-night party before Covid.

He intends to request the Interior Ministry and Cabinet to make an exception to allow the Full Moon Party to run until 4am, though the last few months the party has unofficially run at least that late anyway. Before the pandemic, the event officially went from 8pm to 8am with afterparties launching at 7am.

Many partygoers found the visit from the Tourism Minister intimidating, as his entourage of police, army soldiers, and administrative officials including the deputy governor of Surat Thani was a frightening show of authority to travellers trying to drink and dance on the beach.

The Tourism Minister seemed inspired by the huge event, and the excited tourists enjoying it, as he called for locals to create a safe and welcoming environment to cultivate tourism.

“The visitors said they enjoyed travelling to Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan and experiencing the Full Moon Party or the Half Moon Party. I’ll ask the cabinet and the Interior Ministry to approve the extension [until 4am]. The Full Moon Party has a unique appeal to people.”

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To celebrate two royal birthdays, His Royal Majesty King Vajiralongkorn and Her Majesty Queen Mother Sirikit, over 100,000 people in Thai prison have received some level of clemency . HM the King celebrated his 70th birthday this year on July 28 and this past Friday the Queen Mother celebrated her 90th birthday.

In total 103,613 incarcerated people received a royal pardon, according to the Corrections Department. Of those to receive royal pardons, 80,791 inmates were granted a reduced sentence in their prison terms, while 22,822 were given an early release and were placed on parole.

The amnesty was extended to over 100,000 prisoners, but many noted that several high-profile inmates were passed over for royal clemency. Perhaps the most sensational, Pol. Col. Thitisan Uttanaphon, well-known as Joe Ferrari, was not granted any reduction or parole. He was sentenced to life in prison after horrific video footage was leaked showing him and six other police officers restraining a drug suspect with six plastic bags over his head in custody, who was tortured and suffocated to death.

Former Minister of Commerce Boonsong Teriyapirom was also passed over for any reduction or release. He was sentenced to 48 years in prison on corruption charges related to rice contracts between governments. And former Democrat MP Thep Thai Senpong, who is currently serving two years in prison due to a vote-buying scandal in a local election in 2014, was also denied a royal pardon.

According to the director-general of the Corrections Department, the three notorious inmates were not eligible for royal pardons. To receive a pardon, prisoners must serve at least one-third of their prison sentence or at least eight years before receiving royal amnesty. There is not even an exception granted for elderly inmates over 70.

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A new report reveals Thailand is the best country in the world for a wellness retreat.

Slingo experts, Using TripAdvisor, conducted research on which countries have the best resort hotels, wellness, and spa activities as well as the keywords in the reviews for each country.

Thailand came out on top as the ideal destination for a wellness retreat with a score of 9.5/10. Thailand is home to some of the most therapeutic and luxurious retreats in the world and is often referred to as the No.1 spa capital of Asia.

Indonesia recorded a wellness retreat score of 8.5 to take second place, and Maldives also recorded 8.5.

The research also looked at countries with the highest-rated wellness activities.

Maldives has 29 total spa and wellness activities, with 88.73% of those rated four stars and higher.

Thailand came second in this category with 2,673 wellness and spa activities to choose from. When those are filtered to four-star ratings and higher, 73.03% of those activities remain. The top-rated activity was from Ocean Sound, offering professional yoga and pilates classes.

In other holiday news, the US was the most popular destination for standard holidays. With 390 resort hotels across the states, 389 of those are four stars and higher.

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A local chapter of the Anti-Corruption Network has complained of foul smelling wastewater released onto a beach in Thailand’s coastal province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, located near the Gulf of Thailand.

The chapter says that six officials are overlooking the problems with a hotel dumping wastewater onto the beach near the town hall, in the main city district.

A recent test conducted by a regional environment office found that the wastewater had not been treated, and violated safety standards. The chapter is accusing Prachuap Khiri Khan’s provincial governor of dereliction of duty, along with five other officials who work in the environmental and wastewater management sectors.

Beach vendors had filed similar complaints back in May, saying that the smelly dark water was being released from a wastewater pipe near the breakwater. The vendors said the bad smell was damaging their businesses by driving away tourists.

Many parts of Thailand suffer problems with wastewater management. In one village in Thailand’s eastern city of Pattaya , locals have complained of officials’ minimal efforts to solve wastewater problems for over seven years.

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According to one of the country’s top virologists, by about the end of this year, nearly everyone in Thailand will have been infected with Covid-19. The chief of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Department of Paediatrics of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine Yong Poovorawan predicted this by extrapolating from current and past data.

He said, about the same as influenza, within three years, most people will get Covid at least once.

Dr Yong says that advances in medicine have helped keep death tolls down, as medical treatment and vaccines bought time while the Coronavirus has mutated to be less deadly, but the pandemic was extended for much longer than pandemics in the past because of that too. Just before the third wave of Covid last year, he predicted another wave or two, and about two years before the virus threat would be warded off by herd immunity.

“Whereas in previous times epidemics such as cholera or Spanish flu usually only needed a year to infect most people in the country, killing about 1% of the population, medical technology advances have extended this timeframe a lot.”

Now, with most new infections being fairly mild, experts believe that most cases go unreported. But with 20 to 30 deaths on average each day, the mortality rate has fallen much lower.

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The Fort Kochi heritage zone has turned a picture of neglect, with most of the tourism infrastructure either encroached upon or in shambles.

This is despite the fact that the locale has been teeming with visitors during the past couple of weeks. The neglect shown to restoring the Chinese fishing nets has further added to the mismanagement of the heritage locale. Neither Kerala Tourism that allotted ₹1.5 crore many years ago to restore the nets to their past glory nor KITCO that was entrusted with the execution of the work has been able to kick-start the process, inviting the wrath of fishermen manning the nets.

Kerala Tourism has also not begun work to rebuild parts of the walkway along the beach lost to the raging sea.

Heritage enthusiasts said tourism, revenue and enforcement agencies have been doing little to check crass commercialisation and encroachments on open spaces and the beach front, despite concerns raised by NGOs, residents’ associations and the Fort Kochi Heritage Conservation Society.

The situation is such that even roads, footpaths and open spaces that were recently renovated by Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) have been encroached upon or are being used as parking lots. The 10-metre-wide footpath beside the Fort Kochi police station has been fully occupied by operators of food kiosks, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road.

Tourism officials expressed helplessness unless Revenue and Police departments and the Kochi Corporation undertook a concerted drive to remove encroachers and to streamline parking.

Supporters of the current proposal to allow nightlife entertainment venues to open and serve booze until 4am in some tourist provinces think it will allow money-spending customers to drink alcohol and party for a few extra hours. Meanwhile, opposition to the proposal worries that it will allow customers to drink alcohol and party for a few extra hours, with dire consequences.

The Centre of Alcohol Studies of Maha Sarakham University’s Faculty of Pharmacy believes that the increase in drinking will also see a rise in injuries and deaths due to alcohol and is voicing opposition to the plan to allow entertainment venues to stay open an extra two hours each night.

The deputy director of the centre points out that the World Health Organisation recommends alcohol curfews to prevent booze-related death, injuries, and incidents and that, while sales may go up, violence and death is likely to follow. Drink driving is predicted to increase, as well as drunken brawls, assaults, and other illegal and harmful antics and mischief.

Recent real-life examples were cited as the deputy director mentioned the effects of extending alcohol sales for just one hour in Iceland and the resulting surge in road accident rates. Physical abuse rates increased 16% in a study in Norway after they added an extra hour to their alcohol sales curfew.

Still, Minister of Tourism and Sports Pipat Ratchakitprakarn recently voiced his support for the measure while visiting the massive tourist revenue-producing Full Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan this weekend and vowed to get the proposal in front of the Cabinet and Interior Ministry, as well as the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration for consideration.

If it’s approved, the proposal is expected to go into effect in October and allow 4am closing times for nightlife venues in the provinces of Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, as while as several key tourist cities like Pattaya in Chon Buri, Koh Samui in Surat Thani, and Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan.

SOURCE: The Phuket News

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