THAILAND: Thailand Tourism Ministry Probes Tourist Deaths

Thailand's tourism ministry reported a 54% increase in the number of foreign tourists who died while in Thailand last year, and is looking at ways to better address tourist safety.

A report from the Bureau of Prevention and Assistance in Tourist Fraud said 83 foreign tourists lost their lives last year according to data from the ministry's 10 regional offices.

It said 34 fatalities were caused by road accidents, nine from swimming or boating accidents, six from congenital disease, four suicides and 30 from a variety of other causes.

The report highlighted several coastal areas which are deemed dangerous for swimmers and highways which have become accident black spots.

A detailed study on water accidents will take place in the resort area of Krabi while research on road safety will be conducted in Chiang Mai.

Pongpanu Svetarundra, permanent secretary at the Sports and Tourism Ministry acknowledged a need to beef up tourist safety in some areas.

"In the past, we did not deal with the root causes of the tourist safety problem. From now on, we will look at the issue and address it seriously," he said.

While the death toll rose sharply, statistics showed the number of significant injuries sustained by tourists fell 160% last year to 166.

THAILAND: Tourist Deaths On The Rise, Main Cause Reckless Driving

NEW figures have been released concerning tourist deaths in Thailand and they are so worrying that the local government has finally promised to work on improving visitor safety.

There was a 54 per cent jump in the number of tourist deaths at Australia’s much-loved holiday destination last year, according to a report by Thailand’s Bureau of Prevention and Assistance in Tourist Fraud.

Data collected from the ministry’s 10 regional offices showed that while 83 foreign travellers died in 2015, another 166 were injured (a drop of 160 per cent year on year).

While the main cause of death was road accidents (34), swimming and boating accidents claimed nine lives, congenital disease six, suicides four, and other causes 30.

The statistics showed that in 2015, visitors had a 1 in 301,204 chance of dying in Thailand, including a 1 in 735,294 chance of being killed in a road crash.

However, figures from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) over a similar time frame suggest this is just the tip of the iceberg. Between July 2014, and June 2015, DFAT recorded 109 deaths of Australians in Thailand, that’s not even factoring in tourists from other countries.

Either way, they are numbers that authorities say cannot be ignored any longer.

Pongpanu Svetarundra, Sports and Tourism Ministry secretary, said “In the past, we did not deal with the root causes of the tourist safety problem. From now on, we will look at the issue and address it seriously.”

Meetings have been held between government officials to address the issue, with a study on water accidents set to be conducted in Krabi, and road accident data will be gathered in Chiang Mai.

The report also listed some of the riskiest places in the country for swimming, scuba diving and driving, including:
• Tawan Beach on Pattaya’s Koh Larn (Chon Buri)
• Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui (Surat Thani)
• Mu Koh Similan (Phangnga)
• Koh Hae (Phuket)
• Highway 1095 from Chiang Mai to Pai district in Mae Hong Son
• Highway 118 from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai
• Highways 2258 and 2296 to Khao Khor (Phetchabun)
• Highway 4233 to Karon mountain (Phuket)
Almost 30 million visitors flocked to Thailand last year, but it was ranked low on a recent list for safety and security in the Asia Pacific. It came in at 132nd place out of 141 countries in that category in the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2015.