Some of the city’s travel agencies are resuming bookings for Bangkok-bound package tours this week after having been assured of stepped-up security in the Thai capital, although no big discounts have been introduced by the tour organisers or hotels for travel packages yet, Business Daily uas learned.
EGL Tours (Macau) Co. Ltd. is resuming booking for Bangkok-bound package tours on Friday September 11, the company’s general manager Sabrina Iong told us. Most local tour groups destined to depart for the Thai capital on or before August 23 until this Thursday had been cancelled due to safety concerns following last month’s pipe bomb blast that killed 20, including two Hong Kong residents.
“Since the blast we have seen conditions stabilise with no more incidents taking place,” Ms. Iong told us. “And we’re also assured that the security level there has been enhanced, so we’re accepting bookings again on September 11.”
Andy Wu Keng Kuong, president of the Macau Travel Industry Council, told us that local package tours booked to travel to Bangkok via Air Asia flights have also resumed their travel schedules.
“But I believe that the travel agencies here and in Hong Kong, as well as the hotel operators in Thailand, are not really putting forward any discount policies to lure visitors until the [Hong Kong] red travel alert is removed,” Mr. Wu said.
EGL Tours Macau’s Sabrina Iong told Business Daily that a five-day package tour to Bangkok cost around MOP3,000 (US$375.8), a level that is similar to the price before the blast.
While Macau has yet to establish an outbound travel alert system, the Hong Kong Government raised its red outbound alert for Bangkok after the August 17 bomb blast at the popular Erawan Shrine. The red alert – a travel advisory warning against non-essential travel – is still in effect while the amber alert remains for the rest of Thailand.
Insurance coverage
Patrick Leong, president of the Macau Insurance Agents and Brokers Association, told us that some insurance companies here take the Hong Kong’s travel alert system for reference on policy terms for customers’ claims for travel accidents.
“Half of the insurance companies here, especially those that are branches of the Hong Kong ones, would usually let customers claim half of the prepaid travel tickets or tour package expenses under a red travel alert [raised by Hong Kong authorities],” Mr. Leong said. “But the coverage terms really differ according to different insurance companies, and customers ought to read them very carefully, especially the exclusion clauses.”
Macau Government Tourist Office Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes told media in June that the government expected to finish the internal discussion on an outbound travel alert system within this year. The classifications of different levels of threats for an outbound travel alert system can serve as a reference for the insurance sector to form travel compensation plans, she said.
The outbound travel system in Hong Kong, established in 2009, covers a total of 85 countries and classifies threats and risks into three levels, identified by three colours – amber, red and black.
The amber alert means local residents should monitor the situation of the destination and exercise caution, whilst residents should avoid non-essential travel and adjust travel plans when a red alert is issued. A black alert, meanwhile, warns residents to avoid all travel to or within that particular country.
