Thousands of Russian tourists are stranded in Thailand’s beach resorts because of the war in Ukraine, many unable to pay their bills or return home because of sanctions and canceled flights.
The crisis in Europe also put a crimp in recovery plans for the Southeast Asian nation’s tourism industry, which has hosted more visitors from Russia than any of its neighbors before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
There are about 6,500 Russian tourists stuck in Phuket, Surat Thani, Krabi and Pattaya, four provinces that are popular seaside resort destinations, in addition to 1,000 Ukrainians, Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, told reporters on Friday.
Photo: AFP
About 17,599 Russians accounted for the largest bloc of arrivals last month, representing 8.6 percent of a total of 203,970, according to the Thai Ministry of Public Health.
After the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, their numbers drastically declined.
Yuthasak said the Russians face two main problems: Cancelations of their flights home by airlines that have stopped flying to Russia and suspension of financial services, particularly by credit card companies that have joined sanctions against Moscow. There are also some who prefer to delay their return.
“There are some airlines that still fly to Russia, but travelers have to transit in another country. We are trying to coordinate and search the flights for them,” Yuthasak said.
While almost all direct flights from Russia have been suspended, connections are still available through major carriers based in the Middle East.
He said efforts are also being made to find alternative methods of payments for Russian tourists.
Siwaporn Boonruang, a volunteer translator for Russians stranded in Krabi, said some cannot pay their bills because they can no longer use Visa or Mastercard credit cards.
Many have cash and those with UnionPay credit cards, which are issued by a Chinese financial services company, can still use them, but payment by cryptocurrency is not allowed, she said.
Many hotels have helped by offering discounted rates, she added.
Thailand’s government has offered 30-day visa extensions without payment, and is trying to find low-cost alternative accommodation for people forced to stay for an extended period.
The problems associated with the war in Ukraine have compounded Thailand’s hopes for economic recovery. Officials hope to see the threat from the pandemic ebbing by July, even though daily cases are at record highs, driven by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
Thai authorities later this year expect to drop most quarantine and testing regulations that have been in place to fight the spread of the virus, which would make entry easier for foreign travelers.
Thailand might have to lower its targets for tourist arrivals and revenues this year because of the knock-on effects of rising oil prices and inflation on global travel, Yuthasak was quoted saying by the Bangkok Post newspaper.
“Tourism is still a key engine to revive our economy, even though revenue was stymied by negative factors,” he said.
According to the report, Thailand had projected gaining a total of 1.28 trillion baht (US$38.4 billion) in revenue this year from foreign and domestic tourists.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to