TCT caution reaches Australia
February 18, 2010 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
The Tourism Council of Thailand is warning Australians to avoid Bangkok, after two attempted bombings in the past two days and rumours of a coup, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report stated this morning.
The report filed by correspondent, Conor Duffy, on http://abc.com.au, states “tension in Bangkok has been rising in recent weeks as the city prepares for a high-profile court verdict involving the former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.”
It claims that “Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has upgraded to a bullet-proof and grenade-proof car and military checkpoints have been set up around the city.”
ABC says authorities say “there may be more trouble when supporters of the former Prime Minister hold what they say will be a million-strong march designed to bring down the government.”
The report quotes Tourism Council secretary, Pornthip Hirunkape who told ABC “Australians should consider avoiding Bangkok for the next two weeks.
“Tourists, especially from Australia, are coming direct from Australia into Phuket,” she said.
“Australians are quite resilient and also many of them are repeat [travellers] so they know the conditions and they know the situation of Thai politics quite well.
“I think they would then avoid just the capital city.”
The TCT secretary general subsequently told the media she had been misquoted by an English language newspaper and thast ABC news had incorrectly attributed quotes out of context.
The ABC also quoted Prime Minister spokesman, Dr Panitan Wattanayagorn suggesting the government could introduce martial law.
“If there is an escalation in the tensions or the situation, we do have other contingency plans, including the use of the internal security act and the use of the emergency decree,” Dr Pantian said.
ABC quotes the spokesperson saying the army has upgraded to a level-three security alert and soldiers have set up roadblocks and checkpoints in key areas.
“We are increasing the patrol units just to make sure that security measures are in place and we can identify trouble spots, including separate groups that would like to take this opportunity to create incidents,” he said.
TTR Weekly reporters confirmed that the government beefed up security in the inner part of city, mainly around government buildings and the courts since 15 February. A day later the government established a ” security monitoring committee” according to Dr Panitan Wattanayagorn. There is no evidence to indicate security levels, elsewhere in the capital, have risen significantly.
According to the government spokesperson, police and security officers are working under the scope of, what he called, “normal law related to security”. If there is a significant escalation, the “internal security act” would be activated and finally in an extreme case, where the situation was “beyond control,” the government would declare a state of emergency.
The city’s business community is concerned, but tourism is currently on a roll with record tourist arrivals in January and February. If there are road blocks, other than those manned by police to catch drunk drivers, they are well hidden. There have been no recent updates on travel advisories by countries with a consulate presence in Thailand.
Well .. its obvious that there is no appreciation of the consequences here … I surrender … John .. Good luck … wish I knew what you are on about… look at the bigger picture
“Thailand’s most important revenue earner – TOURISTS”, says Les. Thailand has been lazy and/or totally irresponsible in milking this ‘earner’ so shamelessly and offering increasingly lousy value (especially by comparison with other regional destinations). Current guff about political situations is a smokescreen – Thais trying desperately to hide the fact that the product is fatally flawed, like kids with their fingers in their ears shouting “I can’t hear you”. Thailand doesn’t want tourists – just their MONEY.
Well done …. I guess that this will not be the first piece of business lost to the Kingdom .. what a shame …. the group I refered to has been lost … harmful to Thailand good for Philippines to pick up the battern. Please please do not let this happen to a great destination like Thailand. *sigh*
Well John you are entitled to your opinion, such as it is. We bring groups into Thailand and we have an incentive to operate there from 3 Mar. Would you, as a supposed sane person, really expect senior execs not to consider the travel of their most important customers …. how much longer can I keep recommending Thailand with this going on and disrupting Thailands most important revenue earner – TOURISTS
You hit the nail on the head. Tour operators are concerned for clients’ safety and rightly so. As long as the country suffers from coup threats, security lapses it will lose valuable tourism revenue, far more than was ever lost through a economic downturn.
“Thailands most important revenue earner – TOURISTS” is rot, but a favourite claim by anyone affected by the downturn in arrivals. Thailand does just fine as Asean’s second biggest economy, through manufacturing, agriculture and services. Because the TAT is inept there is no reliable figure as to what tourism contributes to the GDP. If it were more important the ministry would not be the dumping ground for political cronies.
The problem with Aussies has always been is they are loud but cowardly, so show them a mere grenade and they rush back to the burbs of that awful town with the harbour, can’t remember the name. Tell them to stay at home, as it ups the IQ in Asia 100 per cent!
I know John’s just joshing (probably a Kiwi, so let’s drop the Super-14 stuff). The point is, this TCT nitwit is telling people of any ethnicity to avoid BKK. He/she/it is right – but surely that is not the job TCT is paid handsomely to do? Privately, I hope the bullet-proof R**ge R*ver is as effective as those bomb detectors – so Abhisit can’t ask for his (ie Thailand’s) money back.
ps: what the hell is that photo? Shanghai Expo? A dental x-ray?
That would be the Democracy Monument, you should get out more Jay!