PHUKET: The narrow laneways and pastel-coloured shophouses of Phuket Old Town are usually bustling with Chinese tourists during the Lunar New Year holiday, but travel bans and local fears about coronavirus have largely emptied the streets this year.

Just a handful of tourists, many wearing face masks, strolled through the area during daylight hours this week. In the evening, foot traffic increased a little under the glow of the red lanterns strung across the thoroughfare, but remained far below normal levels. Tour bus operators say 300 of their coaches have been idled because there are no passengers.

“The impact is tremendous,” 45-year old Ausana Akaradachakul told Reuters as she waited behind the counter for shoppers in her store selling postcards, straw bags, clothing and jewellery.

“Only a few days after the news broke about the virus, the Chinese tourists were visibly few,” Akaradachakul said. “I think about 70% of them are gone.”

The beach resort of Phuket is Thailand’s second most visited destination after Bangkok and is usually a big draw for visitors from China, who accounted for 11 million visitors last year, particularly around the Lunar New Year holiday. This is familiar event bringing back memories when I was managing a resort in Phuket, Thailand in 2003.
While reading the news Jayanth Kolla, sent me a message, on Thursday January 30 that he was looking into some analysis of adverse impact of Corona Virus and China inbound travel shutdown on tourism in Europe for this year. The news update from world media has been reporting minute by minute on the spread of Corona Virus.
In this episode we are;
– We are reviewing the impact on business and more importantly on the general sentiment of the public in Europe.
– We reflect on the lessons learned from SARS epidemic how the hotel industry dealt with situation in 2003.

More importantly also providing some suggestions on the next steps to recover some of the lost business in 2020.

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