Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
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 The industry’s ability to capitalise on market trends, in recent years especially
experiential tourism, through good-quality services and facilities which allow people to
‘achieve their dreams’, and on the strong growth in medical tourism, through the
provision of world-class facilities.
 Generally, there is a strong willingness to diversify, both in terms of the product and the
market. TAT regularly reinforces awareness of Thailand’s status as one of the top
nations for various forms of tourism, e.g. one of the top shopping cities in 2014, and one
of the 25 most popular countries to retire to in 2015.
 Willingness to collaborate between different industry sectors, for instance hotels
working together to promote a destination or airlines and hotels creating discounted
packages.
 Willingness to re-position the industry in the light of trends; for instance the 2016 TAT
promotional campaign incorporated sustainability and focussed on emphasising
tourism quality, identifying new markets (in terms of geography and market
segmentation) and ‘rebalancing’, i.e. ensuring that tourism benefits all economic sectors
and social groups.
 A thriving economy, giving rise to strong demand from domestic tourists.
 Strong economic and collaborative linkages between different sectors making up the
tourism industry.
 A significant informal sector of microenterprises where tourism is just one of the
contributory income streams to the household economy, meaning that other sectors can
take over when tourism is weak. In effect, such households operate as miniature
diversified economies.
 Strong investment planned into the transport infrastructure and hotel sector into 2018
and beyond.
5.3.5. Weaknesses and Threats to Thai Tourism
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether these strengths will continue to overcome weaknesses
identified by a range of commentators (including BMI, 2016; Ghaderi et al, 2015) which in the long
run may undermine the country’s success. These include:
 Further natural disasters such as flooding which could damage the infrastructure and
deter visitors.
 Negative publicity concerning ecological damage and animal welfare, which could
dampen demand in an era of increasing environmental concern.
 Further domestic unrest due to dissatisfaction with the government.
 Continuing bad publicity surrounding the defamation case against the BBC’s Southeast
Asia correspondent, who investigated frauds perpetrated on foreign retirees in Phuket.
This is likely to undermine the important sector of retirees / second-home owners from
abroad and damage Thailand’s image.
 Weakness in the Chinese economy, which will depress demand from China.
 Lack of a ‘learning culture’ amongst private enterprises as identified by a range of
commentators.