Overseas News
Thai bank grants credit to struggling tourism businesses
Thai Travel Agents Association president Manus Pipathananunth
BANGKOK (AFP) Thailand's small and medium enterprise development bank recently granted two billion baht (46.7 million dollars) credit to help the country's struggling tourist firms survive a slump in business.
"Travel associations asked for financial support to help tourism businesses badly hit by both war and the deadly disease SARS which is now widespread and has led to a lot of tourists cancelling their trips," the bank said in a statement.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has killed more than 200 people and infected more than 4,500 others, mostly in Asia.
Thai Travel Agents Association president Manus Pipathananunth said the loans would help several threatened tour companies survive for a while longer.
"It will help several companies who have liquidity problems," he told AFP.
He warned, however, that the businesses needed other support measures.
"We don't want the loans, we want to
carry out our business and earn income from tourists ourselves,"
he said.
The government bank signed a memorandum of understanding with
five Thai travel associations, representing more than 3,000 businesses,
in which it agreed to lend between 500,000 and three million baht
to those requiring assistance.
The loans must be paid back within two years and carry a 6.0 percent interest rate, which is slightly below market levels.
The associations plan to meet with the government and discuss further cooperation and measures to attract more tourists, Manus said.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has reportedly said it expected tourism arrivals to fall by about 25 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, due to the SARS outbreak.
For the full year, arrivals are expected to fall by 200,000 to 10.56 million. The authority had previously estimated arrivals would grow to 11.7 million from 10.8 million in 2002.
Thailand's outbound companies have been hardest hit, however, with Manus saying earlier this month that bookings with the more than 550 operators his association represents had plunged 95 percent for April.