Bangkok, Thailand, March 4, 2021 / TRAVELINDEX / As Thailand’s travel and tourism industry prepares for the recovery of visitor numbers, it must learn the short- and long-term lessons from the AIDS pandemic of the 1990s if it is to achieve a truly “new normal” and “rebuild better”.

“Over the past 40 years, Thai tourism has faced numerous local, regional, and global crises, from the 1997 economic downturn to the 2004 tsunami,” says Imtiaz Muqbil, a leading travel and tourism journalist and historian in the Asia-Pacific region. “However, it recovers quickly after each crisis. This is because it is very good at short-term recovery measures but less good at solving long-term structural problems.”

“However, the Covid-19 crisis is by far the worst in terms of duration and impact. The emerging new world order will create a completely different environment. Thai tourism can lead the global recovery with an innovative and creative roadmap, but only if it seriously and comprehensively heeds the lessons of the AIDS pandemic,” said Muqbil.

"Today, not many people know this, but when AIDS numbers began to rise, the travel and tourism industry tried to cover up the problem, claiming it would damage the country's 'image'."

“Only when the industry realized that this ‘head-in-the-sand’ response was doomed to failure did it begin to change its position,” says Mr. Muqbil, who is also the editor-in-chief of Travel Impact Newswire, a tourism website dedicated to providing alternative perspectives on industry trends.

“The AIDS pandemic was by far the most difficult story I have covered in my 40-year career as a travel journalist,” says Mr. Muqbil. “It brought out the best and worst aspects of Thai society. The rising case numbers would have destroyed the entire industry if it weren’t for a few courageous and dedicated individuals who worked to save Thailand as a whole, not just Thai tourism.”

"Thailand's experience in containing the AIDS pandemic is a story of courage and cooperation, of controversies and conflicts. Today it is impossible to suppress such pandemics, but many other related problems are still being covered up."

On March 5, 2021, Imtiaz Muqbil will host a special lecture via Zoom, shedding light on the AIDS pandemic. Click here for registration information: www.travel-impact-newswire.com/2021/02/from-condoms-to-face-masks-how-thailand-beat-the-aids-pandemic/

About Imtiaz Muqbil: Imtiaz Muqbil is the leading travel journalist and historian in the Asia-Pacific region. He won the PATA Travel Journalism Award in 2005 for his coverage of the December 2004 tsunami disaster and has an outstanding career dating back to 1980.

Imtiaz Muqbil, Editor-in-Chief of Travel Impact Newswire, Website: www.travel-impact-newswire.com, Subscribe: www.travel-impact-newswire.com/subscribe/