Ukraine invasion: crashing Russian rouble, sanctions deal blow to Thailand bid to revive tourism

Money-transfer difficulties and flight cancellations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have shaken Thai tour operators

Russians were the largest group of visitors to the kingdom in January and some 1.5 million of them came in 2019 and spent US$3.3 billion

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A Russian tourist takes a selfie at Mai Khao beach in Phuket, Thailand. File photo: Reuters

Published: 10:30am, 2 Mar 2022Updated: 1:08pm, 9 Mar 2022

A plunging rouble, flight cancellations and money-transfer difficulties are prompting Russian and European tourists to cancel trips to Thailand, a blow to the Southeast Asian nation’s tourism-revival efforts.

The exclusion of many Russian banks from the Swift payments network has resulted in tour operators running into problems when making transfers, according to Charintip Tiyaphorn, co-owner of Pimalai Resort & Spa in Phuket. Some flights have been cancelled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and many European airlines are re-routing to get to Southeast Asia, she said.

Russians were the largest group of travellers to Thailand in January and top applicants for new visas under a quarantine-free entry programme relaunched last month. About 1.5 million Russians visited in pre-pandemic 2019 and spent US$3.3 billion, the third-highest source of tourism revenue for the country, according to official data.

Particularly in seaside destinations such as Phuket and Pattaya, it’s common for restaurants, spas and even property developments to have signs in Cyrillic characters in an effort to make Russians welcome in a country that before Covid-19 generated about a fifth of its gross domestic product from tourism.

But war and sanctions have once again disrupted Thailand’s efforts to jump-start the vital sector.

“We received emails from agents and sales representatives in Russia that they may not be able to transfer money to Thailand due to sanctions, so this will have some future impacts too,” Charintip said.