This was what happened.
We were walking towards The Grand Palace because it’s a must visit in Bangkok.
On our way to the ticketing counter, we were stopped by a man. He first approached me in a very caring uncle way, “Mam, be careful with your bag. Wear it in front of you.” Because I was wearing it behind me.
Then he continued, “The ticketing counter is closed now at the palace. It’s only opened at 1.30pm. So now, you have 1 hour plus time, why don’t you go for a boat tour ride?”
Later, I met other tourists who told me they were being told a similar script. One said, the palace was having an hour-long ceremony, so no visitors were allowed to enter.
Honestly, I am not sure whether it’s ethical to ‘persuade’ tourists to go for a boat ride like that, but I do find it quite a ‘creative’ strategy. I personally find how the community came together to help one another quite entertaining.
Whilst it was nice seeing tourists visiting from all around the world again, inside, I still had that sombre feeling, especially when I start to think about how hard their lives were during the peak of Covid.
I was telling people, this Covid really hit the tourism industry hard. Though international tourist arrivals increased tremendously this year, it remained much lower compared to pre-Covid era. A recent report published by The World Tourism Organization said only 10% of the 2019 tourism values has been recovered in Asia in comparison to the global average of 46%.
Imagine, there was no long queues at all at the Bangkok airport. I was like, “Wow.”
I remember when I was boarding the plane to Bangkok, I asked the air stewardess, “Are you excited to be flying again?” In a heartbeat, she told me, “Oh YES!”
So like all things in life, we want to stay hopeful. People are working hard to rebuild the tourism industry again.
Here’s to wishing the tourism industry around the world especially in Asia, a speedy full recovery <3
Bimbo
#TravelwithLing #RoadtoRecovery #Hopeful #ExperienceisEverything
