The Impact of Natural Disasters
Natural Disaster Risks and Mitigation Strategies for Thailand’s Tourism Sector
February 3, 2016
Elizabeth McCallion – Primary Article Contributor, Analyst following Thailand
Jake MacDonnell – Article Editor, Team Leader following Thailand
Keywords: Thailand, tourism, natural disasters, climate change, flooding, landslides, tsunami
Thailand’s beautiful environment has long attracted tourists to the country. However, the region has famously fallen victim to large-scale natural disasters. An evaluation of the potential for natural disaster is crucial to determining risk for investment in the Thai tourist industry.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has accepted that, as a result of climate change, weather-related disasters will increase in frequency and intensity, and that coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to natural disaster. As many tourist destinations in Thailand are in the southern coastal region, natural disasters represent an investment risk.
As Thailand is situated in Southeast Asia, it is susceptible to monsoon rains. There was severe flooding in the capital of Bangkok in 2011, in the south in 2014, and in Chon Buri and the tourist district of Pattaya in 2015. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determined that the most disastrous of these floods, in 2011, was caused by the La Niña phenomenon. Since this is a recurring phenomenon, there is the potential for extreme flooding to occur in Thailand in the future. The building of waterproofed infrastructure would be a wise course of action to minimize structural damage. While little can be done to waterproof automobiles, storing them in an elevated location may help them escape flooding. Most of the tourist locations in southern Thailand sit close to sea level, however; establishing a location at a relatively high altitude can mitigate damage caused by flooding. Unfortunately, the flooding in southern Thailand also causes landslides. Buildings sitting on high altitudes will collapse as the land underneath them falls away. It would likely be less costly to repair flood damage at low altitudes than to rebuild a structure on a high altitude after a landslide, so a low-altitude, waterproofed building would present the lowest financial risk.
In the period immediately following the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Thailand’s tourism infrastructure was heavily damaged and its popularity as a tourist destination decreased. In January 2005, the number of international tourists fell by 85% and hotel occupancy rates were sitting at just 10%. Over the first half of the year an estimated 500 tourism enterprises (representing 3000 jobs) collapsed. The severe impact of the 2004 tsunami should be borne in mind when evaluating risk for investment in Thailand’s tourism industry. However, it should also be noted that the 2004 tsunami was the worst in Thailand’s written history, and measures have been taken to reduce the effects of future natural disasters in the region.
After the 2004 tsunami, the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) was created by Thai officials with the purview to accelerate early disaster warning procedures by automating the flow of warning information. The increased potential for preparedness created by the NDWC mitigates risk of loss of life and of damage to property and infrastructure. Again, waterproofed buildings may face less structural damage than ones that have not been waterproofed. Storing valuable company possessions (e.g. vehicles and sports equipment) at relatively high altitudes and away from the ocean whenever possible could diminish the risk of damage caused by a tsunami. A comprehensive evacuation plan in case of an emergency can reduce the risk of loss of life. Many Thai cities, such as popular tourist destination Phuket, have developed their own emergency response plans that should be taken into consideration when developing a corporate plan.
In 2014, the Bangkok Declaration for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia Pacific was adopted by the Sixth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. This opened the door for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, in which the United Nations General Assembly made commitments to reduce disaster risk over the next fifteen years. While not enough time has passed to evaluate the accomplishments of the framework, the commitments have potential to mitigate investment risk in tourism in Thailand. A re-evaluation of risk would be appropriate after action related to the framework has been taken.
