กรุงเทพฯ--25 ธ.ค.--KASIKORNBANK
Thailand’s tourism market contracts and is directly impacting tour businesses, prompting KASIKORNBANK to release urgent measures to boost liquidity by offering 12-month grace period on principal, converting installment limit to 6-month O/D, extending repayment period for up to two years, and offering seasonal repayment options.
Mr. Patchara Samalapa, KASIKORNBANK Executive Vice President, revealed that tourism in Thailand has been stagnating since the beginning of 2014. Despite a recovery in 4Q14 during the high tourist season, numbers of foreign visitors to Thailand continue to drop due to internal and external factors. A major contributor to the decline concerns economic stability issues in Europe and Asia that continue to linger, deterring spending on various activities, including taking overseas holidays. Moreover, our main tourist market, Russia, is facing a weakening Ruble; hence increasing numbers of Russians have put a pin in overseas holiday plans. Additionally, Thailand is currently enduring stiff competition with many countries offering tourist visa exemptions, in order to attract more visitors; as a consequence, foreign tourists have been postponing Thai holiday plans.
The declining number of tourists inevitably affects tour business operators. Most of them are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for 80 percent of total tour operators. As a consequence, their revenues have plunged, leaving them to face tight liquidity. In response to this crisis, KBank has released supporting measures to improve liquidity for customers operating tourism-related businesses, e.g., hotel, restaurant, transport, entertainment and leisure, as well as services and trades in 14 provinces, which are heavily affected by a sharp decline in foreign visitors. Those provinces include Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi, Phangnga, Surat Thani, Trang, Songkhla, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chon Buri, Rayong, Trat, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai.
KBank’s measures for helping Thai tour businesses include offering 12-month grace period on principal, converting installment limit to 6-month O/D, extending repayment period for up to two years, and offering seasonal repayment options, which are up to 130 percent of normal repayment amounts during the high season (November-April) and a minimum of 70 percent of normal repayment amounts during the low season (May-October).
KBank is currently facilitating financial support to 9,000 tour business operators, with a total outstanding debt of 23 billion Baht. The latest supporting measures are expected to boost liquidity for the Bank’s customers to stay afloat until the next high season. Interested customers can now take advantage of the program until March 31, 2015. Further information can be acquired through K-Biz Contact Center at 02-888-8822.
KResearch has assessed that number of foreign tourists in 2014 will reach about 25 million, a contraction of 5.8 percent from 2013. Tourism receipts will fall 3.3 percent YoY, from last year’s 1.21 trillion Baht to total 1.17 trillion Baht this year. The majority of visitors will be from China, Russia and Europe, whose spending per person is quite high. However, Russia and Europe are enduring domestic economic hardship; therefore, they may spend less on holidays.
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