Thai tourism industry has a very bleak future ahead. With no real end of the conflict in the middle of Bangkok and more and more embassies issues travel warning it looks like a bad year for Thailand tourism.
The Thai government have responded with lifting the visa fee for all tourist visas but this will probably do very little to push up the numbers. The insurance of 10 000 USD is no good either if you are killed by a rubber bullet or a bomb in Bangkok.
As we wrote before the rest of Thailand is still safe even if North Thailand can be the next target after a few Red Shirts have tried to storm city hall. North Thailand is the mother load of all Thaksin supports and can fall after Bangkok. Nobody really travel to Essarn for tourist purposes so any conflict there will not affect tourism.
Most expats do not care what the Embassy says they travel to Thailand anyway and they know how to get the latest real info about the situation in Thailand but first time travelers will probably pick another destination with less violence.
The TAT stands like a rock as usual doing nothing but spend money on mega project nobody understands. Some people have asked if it is a company or a government agency and the truth is I do not know. I know that some people are paying big money to start working there because the money you can get back is even bigger. They scared away all normal tourists with statements they only want rich foreigners in Thailand but you know what, Rich tourist’s wants safety and stability they do not want to land there private jets in a danger zone.
My friends recently visit Laos and they are beaming with poor tourist spending money like crazy in places that really needs it. They welcome any tourist rich or poor because when the shit hits then fan it is no time to be fussy.
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