Hospitality businesses hurt by limits
PUBLISHED: 28 Aug 2024 at 05: 03
A Thammasat University professor has joined a chorus of voices calling for steps to promote drinking use, including extending the hrs of retail sales.
According to one pro-alcohol intellectual, the government may amend the laws to allow more alcohol-selling hours for tourists, lift the entire ban on alcohol advertisements, reduce the import tariffs on adult beverages, adjust the import tax structure and offer wider support to little- and medium-sized enterprises that produce or sell alcohol.
” More flexibility is needed with the changing hospitality needs to suppress the impact]from drinking control legislation ] on business users and visitors”, said Suthikorn Kingkaew, an associate professor at Thammasat University’s Research &, Consultancy Institute.
No more restrictions on alcohol sales on significant religious festivals in hotels. He argued that advertisements featuring a heath warning may be replaced by the total ban on alcohol advertisements.
He cited the results of a subsequent survey that was conducted on both Thais and foreign visitors as evidence that the majority of respondents only drank alcohol once or twice per week.
Most people prefer to consume beer or alcohol at bars or restaurants, according to Mr. Suthikorn, and the flavor of the alcoholic beverage is most important, followed by the atmosphere.
As many as 98 % of those surveyed said they had never experienced any major alcohol-related concern after imbibing, apart from the unusual migraine, said Mr Suthikorn.
The majority of the hospitality industry respondents were upset about the ban on alcohol sales during the holiday season, which they claimed was hurting their companies in an already slow business.
The rules banning drinking posters, however, are relatively vague and therefore prone to abuse by crooked law enforcement officers, the intellectual noted.
The country’s import duty framework should also be revamped, he said. Alcoholic beverages may be subject to a tax that is proportionate to how much real liquor they contain.
Tourism industry profits may increase as a result of lowering the alcohol fees on imported spirits. According to Mr. Suthikorn, the government should also encourage the use of native materials when making cocktail beverages.
Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, president of the Thai Hotels Association ( THA ), welcomed Mr Suthikorn’s suggestion to relax the time limits on alcohol sales, saying the daily prohibition from 2pm until 5pm should now be lifted.
” It’s my hope that hotels are designated as locations where customers can order alcoholic beverages at any time.” Hotels are areas where the foreign eating lifestyle is the norm”, said Mr Thienprasit.
” If we can sell]more ] alcohol, we will earn more. On the other hand, when we ca n’t serve customers alcohol, they will get frustrated. They” often just want to chill out over a beverage after a long journey,” he said.