Protests to damage tourism heavily

The Federation of Thai Tourism Associations (FETTA) and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports joined together Thursday to urge the ‘Red Shirt’ anti-government protesters to demonstrate peacefully but expressed concern that a prolonged with violence must eventually heavily affect Thai tourism industry.

The protest will inevitably have a negative impact on foreigners’ confidence in Thai tourism, and be reflected in cancellations and redirected travel to other destinations.
“If the protest continues and turns violent, it will negatively impact on the number of tourists entering the country, particularly on the upcoming Songkran festival and on Labor Day, when a large number of Chinese tourists are expected,” he said.

As Thai tourism has not fully recovered since the closure of the Thai two main airports late last year, Mr. Prasit said the ongoing political turmoil could possibly affect the planned summits of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its international dialogue partners this weekend in Pattaya and other official meetings to be held at the end of this year might be cancelled or postponed.