Thailand On World Travel Warning List

[george]

Thailand on world travel warning list

Countries around the globe yesterday issued warnings to their citizens about travelling to Thailand - a country the Philippines said was lacking in "political maturity."

The comment from President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman, Anthony Golez, was prompted by the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by protesters.

Asked to explain his comments, Golez said "our people have reached a high degree of political maturity whereby [they] respect due process and the rule of law".

China, France, New Zealand, Singapore, Britain, the United States, Australia and Japan warned through their websites of possible danger to their citizens.

The US Embassy advised Americans to stay away from the airport given the potential for violence and civil disobedience.

"American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations," it said.

The airport seizure would damage investment and tourism industry, US Ambassador Eric John said yesterday.

Shutting down the airport for even one day affected a lot of visitors.

If the closure lasted for long, it would stop tourists from visiting Thailand, he said.

The US Embassy has cooperated with Thai authorities to help American visitors trapped inside the Suvarnabhumi terminal, he said.

The Chinese Embassy warned on its website that Chinese citizens planning to visit Thailand should postpone their plans; while France's foreign affairs ministry suggested that French travellers booked to fly through Bangkok make alternative arrangements.

The New Zealand foreign affairs ministry advised stranded travellers to stay with other tourists, remain close to information counters and follow instructions issued by local authorities.

Similarly, Singapore said citizens without "a pressing need to travel" should postpone their trip.

Britain's Foreign Office issued an updated travel advisory telling Britons to keep abreast of a "very uncertain" political situation.

The Japanese foreign ministry urged its nationals to be cautious. In an alert posted on the ministry's website, it said people planning to visit or to stay in Thailand were advised to check flight information well beforehand.

-- The Nation 2008-11-27

[mrtoad]

This was always likely to happen, and what an absolute tragedy for the Tourism industry.

The governments can't be blamed for giving these warnings, as to be honest the place is descending into chaos, although at least previously all the nonsense was pretty much kept to localised areas that did not affect the vast majority of the population, or tourists.

How many years will this place take to recover from this?

[geriatrickid]

The red warning (Advise against all travel) is only in force for the south and the Cambodia temple hotspot. For diplomatic reasons, none of the major western countries will red flag Thailand. Political and economic concerns ahead of the security of their citizens I guess.

[mrsouza]

To quote an arriving German tourist when PAD seized the airport in Phuket last August:

“Even if there is no tsunami, the people here know how to create their own disasters.”

[h90]

This was always likely to happen, and what an absolute tragedy for the Tourism industry.

The governments can't be blamed for giving these warnings, as to be honest the place is descending into chaos, although at least previously all the nonsense was pretty much kept to localised areas that did not affect the vast majority of the population, or tourists.

How many years will this place take to recover from this?

Recover will be quick if all problems are fully fixed.

My mother told me in Austria it was not at all in the main TV news yesterday evening, she checked flights for the next few days. All flights not canceled are reporting as full booked not a single seat free.

Spoke with some of my frequent customer and 1/2 didn't heard of problems :D

Do I overvalue to seizure of the two biggest airports?

Is Thailand as important as Tahiti in the eyes of Europeans (Thailand, Taiwan, Tahiti same same?)?

[Mosha]

Lets see, expats and tourists get shot and murdered. The Western embassies do zilch. The Thais get angry about their govenment and now our lives are in danger.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Mosha

[mrtoad]

This was always likely to happen, and what an absolute tragedy for the Tourism industry.

The governments can't be blamed for giving these warnings, as to be honest the place is descending into chaos, although at least previously all the nonsense was pretty much kept to localised areas that did not affect the vast majority of the population, or tourists.

How many years will this place take to recover from this?

Recover will be quick if all problems are fully fixed.

My mother told me in Austria it was not at all in the main TV news yesterday evening, she checked flights for the next few days. All flights not canceled are reporting as full booked not a single seat free.

Spoke with some of my frequent customer and 1/2 didn't heard of problems :D

Do I overvalue to seizure of the two biggest airports?

Is Thailand as important as Tahiti in the eyes of Europeans (Thailand, Taiwan, Tahiti same same?)?

I very much doubt that the recovery will be quick, already the tourist numbers are down, and people will now start thinking about alternative destinations. Business has been put on hold, as people flying in and out are unable to anything. If people don't have faith in the government to keep law and order, people are not going to have much faith in investing into the country.

As for it not being in the Main news, I think if you look at the main international news stations, it most certainly has been well covered and documented. The fact that flights are showing as booked does not neccesarily mean that those planes will be full, as many people will probably decide against travelling.

I hope you are right that the recovery will be quick, but with a global recession, this could hardly have come at a worse time. I guess the wanke_rs in Yellow just don't give a toss, and by the seems of it neither do the government, there only interest seems to be in changing the constitution so that the Fugitive Toxin can return.

[george]

CRISIS IN BANGKOK: Tourism in tatters

BANGKOK: -- Thailand’s high season tourism prospects have been crippled by the partial closure of Suvarnabhumi International Airport by People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) anti-government protesters.

Governments around the globe have issued warnings to their citizens about travelling to Thailand.

China, France, New Zealand, Singapore, Britain, the United States, Australia and Japan warned through their websites of possible danger to their citizens.

Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said the PAD protest would have a massive impact on the industry.

"Don't think that the Thai tourism business will grow next year. It's dying now because of the political problems. In the best case, we might just see flat growth," he said.

Another tourism expert told the Bangkok Post the attempts by the PAD to close Suvarnabhumi airport reflected the "lawless society" in Thailand.

"Do you know when the country's image is destroyed, it's very difficult to revive it in a short period? What does Thai hospitality look like now, when there are clashes and violence inside the country?" he said.

The airport seizure would damage investment and tourism industry, US Ambassador Eric John said.

The Chinese Embassy warned on its website that Chinese citizens planning to visit Thailand should postpone their plans; while France's foreign affairs ministry suggested that French travellers booked to fly through Bangkok make alternative arrangements.

The New Zealand foreign affairs ministry advised stranded travellers to stay with other tourists, remain close to information counters and follow instructions issued by local authorities.

Similarly, Singapore said citizens without "a pressing need to travel" should postpone their trip.

Britain's Foreign Office issued an updated travel advisory telling Britons to keep abreast of a "very uncertain" political situation.

-- travelmole.com 2008-11-27

[h90]

This was always likely to happen, and what an absolute tragedy for the Tourism industry.

The governments can't be blamed for giving these warnings, as to be honest the place is descending into chaos, although at least previously all the nonsense was pretty much kept to localised areas that did not affect the vast majority of the population, or tourists.

How many years will this place take to recover from this?

Recover will be quick if all problems are fully fixed.

My mother told me in Austria it was not at all in the main TV news yesterday evening, she checked flights for the next few days. All flights not canceled are reporting as full booked not a single seat free.

Spoke with some of my frequent customer and 1/2 didn't heard of problems :D

Do I overvalue to seizure of the two biggest airports?

Is Thailand as important as Tahiti in the eyes of Europeans (Thailand, Taiwan, Tahiti same same?)?

I very much doubt that the recovery will be quick, already the tourist numbers are down, and people will now start thinking about alternative destinations. Business has been put on hold, as people flying in and out are unable to anything. If people don't have faith in the government to keep law and order, people are not going to have much faith in investing into the country.

As for it not being in the Main news, I think if you look at the main international news stations, it most certainly has been well covered and documented. The fact that flights are showing as booked does not neccesarily mean that those planes will be full, as many people will probably decide against travelling.

I hope you are right that the recovery will be quick, but with a global recession, this could hardly have come at a worse time. I guess the wanke_rs in Yellow just don't give a toss, and by the seems of it neither do the government, there only interest seems to be in changing the constitution so that the Fugitive Toxin can return.

Yes it is everywhere in the newspapers but many people just watch TV, as I told 50 % did not notice it, what is very strange for me.

Recovery will be only quick if a strong respected government will be in power soon.

Any half perfect solution will make the recovery very slow to impossible.

For example military government....recovery very slow.

Example Democrats take over with a small majority and the Thaksin Mob makes problems everywhere....tourism will go down even more.

The economic slow-down in the rest of the world will make the recovery slower as well (if you are not sure for your money AND the place is not too safe you may switch to cheap holidays at home)

[mrtoad]

It certainly is being covered on TV in the UK, on BBC, SKY and all the other news channels available, hence the number of calls that I've had from back in blighty.

I know of 4 people who have cancelled business trips to Bangkok in the past 24 hours, and a couple of those have said that they are going to stay away for sometime, as the situation is too volatile.

My colleague has an important meeting in Singapore on Monday morning, and at the moment we are trying to work out which is going to be the best way to get down there, as at the moment there are no guaranntees that things will be up an running fully by the weekend, and with the big backlog it's going to be a nightmare.

I suppose we have all got to wait and see what the puppeter in HK makes Somchai do next.

[Asianatic]

Our Ministry of Exterior affairs has officially announced to its citizens to avoid traveling to Thailand. I'm traveling since 16 years to the Land of Smiles and the past 5 years there was hardly a trip which did'nt include any incident. Time to look for another destination indeed.

Eddy - Belgium

[jfchandler]

OUCH!!!! That really hurts, when the govt spokesman for the PHs of all places...says that your country is lacking in political maturity...

The PHs, of course, hasn't had their airport closed lately. But they do have Muslim extremists kidnapping and ransoming Westerners, ripoffs and scams again Westerners rife throughout the country, gun-toting guards in front of every mall and fast food outlet, police who actively engage in extortion against tourists, and, let's not forget, regular bombings including the recent one (apparently) where the whole shopping mall got destroyed. And the list could go on... including the long-running campaign to impeach President Arroyo.

Interestingly, I was looking thru an airline safety web site yesterday that tracks commercial airline crashes with fatalities, and saw that PH Airlines had had quite a few fatal crashes in the past couple decades. And when I looked at the details, I was surprised to find they had had about a half dozen or so episodes where people had planted bombs on their planes that exploded inflight, taking the jets down and killing everyone onboard.

Yes, the current situation here is crazy and stupid, caused by the inability of the two warring sides to come to any resolution. And why is that??? Simply because one exiled billionaire wants to come home and run the whole show again. If it wasn't for that, this whole thing would vanish.

[animatic]

On CNN, 85 dead in Mumbai has easily displaced a large airport sit-in,

with the one senseless death in Chaing mai erroneously attributed to PAD.

If you look at India and Pakistan, Middle east and several places in South America,

Thailand is actual being pretty calm about this power struggle.

But certainly warrants these notices to expats and travelers.

[h90]

It certainly is being covered on TV in the UK, on BBC, SKY and all the other news channels available, hence the number of calls that I've had from back in blighty.

I know of 4 people who have cancelled business trips to Bangkok in the past 24 hours, and a couple of those have said that they are going to stay away for sometime, as the situation is too volatile.

My colleague has an important meeting in Singapore on Monday morning, and at the moment we are trying to work out which is going to be the best way to get down there, as at the moment there are no guaranntees that things will be up an running fully by the weekend, and with the big backlog it's going to be a nightmare.

I suppose we have all got to wait and see what the puppeter in HK makes Somchai do next.

puppet master and real premier is in Dubai me thinks.....

just tracked the outgoing FedEx from yesterday and no surprise they didn't left country.

Tomorrow some important FedEx shall come.

In my company: Today still OK

Tomorrow the first slight problems

But Monday, Tuesday the real troubles will start. On Wednessday I can go on strike as I can't pull the products I should send out of my nose. But anyhow it does not make a difference if I send or not.........

[mrtoad]

It certainly is being covered on TV in the UK, on BBC, SKY and all the other news channels available, hence the number of calls that I've had from back in blighty.

I know of 4 people who have cancelled business trips to Bangkok in the past 24 hours, and a couple of those have said that they are going to stay away for sometime, as the situation is too volatile.

My colleague has an important meeting in Singapore on Monday morning, and at the moment we are trying to work out which is going to be the best way to get down there, as at the moment there are no guaranntees that things will be up an running fully by the weekend, and with the big backlog it's going to be a nightmare.

I suppose we have all got to wait and see what the puppeter in HK makes Somchai do next.

puppet master and real premier is in Dubai me thinks.....

just tracked the outgoing FedEx from yesterday and no surprise they didn't left country.

Tomorrow some important FedEx shall come.

In my company: Today still OK

Tomorrow the first slight problems

But Monday, Tuesday the real troubles will start. On Wednessday I can go on strike as I can't pull the products I should send out of my nose. But anyhow it does not make a difference if I send or not.........

Yeah, my mistake Puppet master is in Dubai. It's hard life being on the run.

Our company will be affected on some of our projects because of this for certain. It's a real pain in the ass, but those that could resolve it don't seem to give a shit, as it's all about personal interest and greed.

[old wanderer]

What a contrast:

Thailand a bunch of middle age women waving their little plastic hands at a world class airport and complaining about the return of a criminal X PM

India a bunch of Muslims burning down the Taj hotel, over 100 dead, more than 100 hostages hundreds wounded.... and the fighting is continuing.

Now lets see.......Thailand or India where am I not going to go???

In the USA continuous coverage on many news channels about India, Thailand, a 30 second bite every few hours (sometimes).

Did anybody (that watches ASTV) see the group of American travelers that had accepted the hospitality of one of the women protesters to sleep at her house last night. She told them she was returning in the morning to the airport to protests, so they could just stay there at her home...NO NO they said we want to come too. There were pictures of them wearing the head band "WE FIGHT FOR OUR KING"

[h90]

It certainly is being covered on TV in the UK, on BBC, SKY and all the other news channels available, hence the number of calls that I've had from back in blighty.

I know of 4 people who have cancelled business trips to Bangkok in the past 24 hours, and a couple of those have said that they are going to stay away for sometime, as the situation is too volatile.

My colleague has an important meeting in Singapore on Monday morning, and at the moment we are trying to work out which is going to be the best way to get down there, as at the moment there are no guaranntees that things will be up an running fully by the weekend, and with the big backlog it's going to be a nightmare.

I suppose we have all got to wait and see what the puppeter in HK makes Somchai do next.

puppet master and real premier is in Dubai me thinks.....

just tracked the outgoing FedEx from yesterday and no surprise they didn't left country.

Tomorrow some important FedEx shall come.

In my company: Today still OK

Tomorrow the first slight problems

But Monday, Tuesday the real troubles will start. On Wednessday I can go on strike as I can't pull the products I should send out of my nose. But anyhow it does not make a difference if I send or not.........

Yeah, my mistake Puppet master is in Dubai. It's hard life being on the run.

Our company will be affected on some of our projects because of this for certain. It's a real pain in the ass, but those that could resolve it don't seem to give a shit, as it's all about personal interest and greed.

Well worry for your projects instead the interests of the nation at all is as well greed.

To some point I am ready to loose some business. If Thaksin has the country in his hands, I would loose more due to corruption. But of course if it goes all down I must find a different country to work.

[neverdie]

WARNING...WARNING... Wil Robinson!

[grandpops]

H90, the penny has not dropped with you . Please forgive me for making a detailed and considered post rather than just sniping and interposing knee jerk propaganda.

You and Thai business are not going to sacrifice a bit of your business for a greater good.

You and the country, its people and its business are going to lose a massive amount of money for a very long time to come. FACT. I promise you, you have not even seen the start of the begining of the begining of the money loss that you are going to suffer.

In Bangkok you are going to lose and incredible amount and regions such as Chiang Mai will benefit from it. Bandkoks loss is the rest of the countries gain.

People will think twice about Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya. They will not even have to think about Bangkok as its an absolute no-no.

Wait till they start cancelling major exhibitions at B-Tec. Wait till the couriers start routing through Malaysia to service the south, through Chaing Mai to service the North. ASEAN has already been lost to Bangkok, MICE.. who the hel_l is going to even try to hold a conference there this year? Nobody in hel_l.

Knock on effect is that all the industries that service these events like Hotels, Taxis, Couriers, Internet and Electical Service Engineers, lighting, transportation companies, waiters, security staff, cleaners, cooks, maids, entertaninment musicians, designers, set builders and designers etc. need I continue? ARE OUT OF WORK OR NOT EMPLOYED ON THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

What then follows is massive unemployment followed by massive social problems, more prostitution, more drugs, more theft. FACT. Sorry you cannot see the effects of this yet and didn't have the foresight required to think before you and your lovely PAD riot around the capital.

Long term. IF and I say IF, the PAD get their way, there are months of fighting and pre election shooting and rioting ahead. If its a Coup, its screwed and foreign Investment totally evaporates and the country is paralysed even more than the last time as the whole country know the Army is weak and will not submit to its will as they did last time. And that is the best you can hope for?

Sorry, where are my manners... Have a nice day!

Edited November 27, 2008 by grandpops

[h90]

H90, the penny has not dropped with you . Please forgive me for making a detailed and considered post rather than just sniping and interposing knee jerk propaganda.

You and Thai business are not going to sacrifice a bit of your business for a greater good.

You and the country, its people and its business are going to lose a massive amount of money for a very long time to come. FACT. I promise you, you have not even seen the start of the begining of the begining of the money loss that you are going to suffer.

In Bangkok you are going to lose and incredible amount and regions such as Chiang Mai will benefit from it. Bandkoks loss is the rest of the countries gain.

People will think twice about Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya. They will not even have to think about Bangkok as its an absolute no-no.

Wait till they start cancelling major exhibitions at B-Tec. Wait till the couriers start routing through Malaysia to service the south, through Chaing Mai to service the North. ASEAN has already been lost to Bangkok, MICE.. who the hel_l is going to even try to hold a conference there this year? Nobody in hel_l.

Knock on effect is that all the industries that service these events like Hotels, Taxis, Couriers, Internet and Electical Service Engineers, lighting, transportation companies, waiters, security staff, cleaners, cooks, maids, entertaninment musicians, designers, set builders and designers etc. need I continue? ARE OUT OF WORK OR NOT EMPLOYED ON THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

What then follows is massive unemployment followed by massive social problems, more prostitution, more drugs, more theft. FACT. Sorry you cannot see the effects of this yet and didn't have the foresight required to think before you and your lovely PAD riot around the capital.

Long term. IF and I say IF, the PAD get their way, there are months of fighting and pre election shooting and rioting ahead. If its a Coup, its screwed and foreign Investment totally evaporates and the country is paralysed even more than the last time as the whole country know the Army is weak and will not submit to its will as they did last time. And that is the best you can hope for?

Sorry, where are my manners... Have a nice day!

The things are resolved in a few days. For the negative future you are right if the courts or army or who ever does not cut the roots of Thaksin and TRT.

Positiv case:

A military coup, if people trust in the army (and that depends on the acting persons) and they make a cut and bring all the TRT criminals to court we have an impact for a few months. If it is resolved today all the tourists have forgotten it in 6 months. Business investments are something different, more based on what they think will happening in future.

Alone reducing the massive corruption on useless megaprojects will balance the negative effects in a couple of months.

Of course worst case scenario: new election with almost civil war elements and a stupid, corrupt weak government will be far worse than what we have now.

[ericjt]

Let's not blow things out of proportion, folks. We all know the media carefully edit stories to scare the heck out of everyone over everything. I've been in several places that were headlined as "disaster areas" by the media, and there was very little going on. I had to look hard to find it if I wanted to see it for myself.

I also notice the courtesy and generosity of some of the protesters (feeding stranded tourists and finding places for them to sleep) were mostly ignored. Very Thai, but it might not sound scary enough, right?

I'm flying from CM to BKK next week and don't plan on changing my trip. I've lived here for 5 years, and given my experience with Thai people, as long as the planes are flying, I'll be going. In other countries I might be concerned. Not here.

I'd suggest we need to tell the people we know outside Thailand what it's really like here. Are you really scared? Would you really be afraid of going to BKK?

Really?

The political situation is unfortunate and something Thailand will have to sort out. Outsiders can't do much about that, but we can try to counteract the sensationalism in the media, and limit unnecessary fallout as much as we can.

Let's try.

[grandpops]

Long term. IF and I say IF, the PAD get their way, there are months of fighting and pre election shooting and rioting ahead. If its a Coup, its screwed and foreign Investment totally evaporates and the country is paralysed even more than the last time as the whole country know the Army is weak and will not submit to its will as they did last time. And that is the best you can hope for?

Sorry, where are my manners... Have a nice day!

The things are resolved in a few days. For the negative future you are right if the courts or army or who ever does not cut the roots of Thaksin and TRT.

Positiv case:

A military coup, if people trust in the army (and that depends on the acting persons) and they make a cut and bring all the TRT criminals to court we have an impact for a few months. If it is resolved today all the tourists have forgotten it in 6 months. Business investments are something different, more based on what they think will happening in future.

Alone reducing the massive corruption on useless megaprojects will balance the negative effects in a couple of months.

Of course worst case scenario: new election with almost civil war elements and a stupid, corrupt weak government will be far worse than what we have now.

I solemley promise that Business confidence and loss of earning will be felt for years to come. Anybody cancelling this next month will for sure throw the teddy out and re-lotate the next years events. 100%

Your have petty hatreds of the man who did so much for the poor, health and education and so much for the regions (this is really how the world outs iside of ASTVsee him) and love of a Right Wing Facist loonatic that tells people to stuff used tampax in statues and believes in the bogey man(and this is really as the world outside of ASTV sees it). And for that is mired in corruption for nearly 2 billion baht that he and his cohorts made disapear.

Believe what you want but you are going to feel it in your pockets differently. Luckily the Army Stadium Rock concert is the first big cancellation and loss of money. Ha bloody ha. Hard rockers my ass!

Edited November 27, 2008 by grandpops

[mrtoad]

It certainly is being covered on TV in the UK, on BBC, SKY and all the other news channels available, hence the number of calls that I've had from back in blighty.

I know of 4 people who have cancelled business trips to Bangkok in the past 24 hours, and a couple of those have said that they are going to stay away for sometime, as the situation is too volatile.

My colleague has an important meeting in Singapore on Monday morning, and at the moment we are trying to work out which is going to be the best way to get down there, as at the moment there are no guaranntees that things will be up an running fully by the weekend, and with the big backlog it's going to be a nightmare.

I suppose we have all got to wait and see what the puppeter in HK makes Somchai do next.

puppet master and real premier is in Dubai me thinks.....

just tracked the outgoing FedEx from yesterday and no surprise they didn't left country.

Tomorrow some important FedEx shall come.

In my company: Today still OK

Tomorrow the first slight problems

But Monday, Tuesday the real troubles will start. On Wednessday I can go on strike as I can't pull the products I should send out of my nose. But anyhow it does not make a difference if I send or not.........

Yeah, my mistake Puppet master is in Dubai. It's hard life being on the run.

Our company will be affected on some of our projects because of this for certain. It's a real pain in the ass, but those that could resolve it don't seem to give a shit, as it's all about personal interest and greed.

Well worry for your projects instead the interests of the nation at all is as well greed.

To some point I am ready to loose some business. If Thaksin has the country in his hands, I would loose more due to corruption. But of course if it goes all down I must find a different country to work.

You clearly have misread, what I have said, and implied that I am as self interested as the rest. I am using an example, and as the company I work for is a Thai company, It affects the Thai people more say, than myself. There are far more serious problems which I have already posted about previously. It's time some heads were knocked together and this thing resolved, before it realy does hit the fan.

[thaiholiday]

Folks! I totally agree with ericjt! I'd grown up in Thailand and now live in Australia. All the bad news about Thailand I've seen here are 1000 worse than they actually are!

Since SARS, Taksin, tsunami, terrorists, and now this. The Aussie government has flaged Thailand as a non-recommended country for nearly 7 years! Guess what? I go back home every year, most of the time 2-3 times a year for business, family visit and always... holiday. And I actually enjoy my trips everytime!

Once I'm in the country, I hardly notice the violence and other things that so many governments warn their citizen!

Bomb at the airport? Or the bomb couple months ago? Guys, there are more deads caused by motorbike in my hometown (Chachoengsao) everyday!!

Media makes money when their story get watched. It's as simple as that!!

[munirkn]

Its really hurts me bcoz I consider Thailand my second home. Infact situation is little disturbed here in Thailand but it is not fair that it is marked as RED ZONE. I suggest all visitors to Thailand to delay their visit till airports are fully operational again but not cancel their tour because I'm living in Thailand and don't see such law and order situation which makes me scared.

Just pray to Allah (God) for peace here in Thailand and around the world.

[Dakhar]

H90, the penny has not dropped with you . Please forgive me for making a detailed and considered post rather than just sniping and interposing knee jerk propaganda.

You and Thai business are not going to sacrifice a bit of your business for a greater good.

You and the country, its people and its business are going to lose a massive amount of money for a very long time to come. FACT. I promise you, you have not even seen the start of the begining of the begining of the money loss that you are going to suffer.

In Bangkok you are going to lose and incredible amount and regions such as Chiang Mai will benefit from it. Bandkoks loss is the rest of the countries gain.

People will think twice about Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya. They will not even have to think about Bangkok as its an absolute no-no.

Wait till they start cancelling major exhibitions at B-Tec. Wait till the couriers start routing through Malaysia to service the south, through Chaing Mai to service the North. ASEAN has already been lost to Bangkok, MICE.. who the hel_l is going to even try to hold a conference there this year? Nobody in hel_l.

Knock on effect is that all the industries that service these events like Hotels, Taxis, Couriers, Internet and Electical Service Engineers, lighting, transportation companies, waiters, security staff, cleaners, cooks, maids, entertaninment musicians, designers, set builders and designers etc. need I continue? ARE OUT OF WORK OR NOT EMPLOYED ON THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

What then follows is massive unemployment followed by massive social problems, more prostitution, more drugs, more theft. FACT. Sorry you cannot see the effects of this yet and didn't have the foresight required to think before you and your lovely PAD riot around the capital.

Long term. IF and I say IF, the PAD get their way, there are months of fighting and pre election shooting and rioting ahead. If its a Coup, its screwed and foreign Investment totally evaporates and the country is paralysed even more than the last time as the whole country know the Army is weak and will not submit to its will as they did last time. And that is the best you can hope for?

Sorry, where are my manners... Have a nice day!

The company I work we allready feel the ripples & this was not even due to the airport issues. More due to unstable govt, global economy issues & now this.... a trifecta.... The sad part is, our company is in the final stages of building a new headquaters, the cost of around 3 million USD. Meanwhile, revenue is down, pressure from our suppliers is mounting, threats of breaking distribution rights contracts... on and on. Don't think for a minute the folks supplying us in Germany give a rat"s nut what is going on here, the are willing to pull the plug and find other distributors.

[fred2007]

To quote an arriving German tourist when PAD seized the airport in Phuket last August:

"Even if there is no tsunami, the people here know how to create their own disasters."

true and very well said

[sassienie]

Let's not blow things out of proportion, folks. We all know the media carefully edit stories to scare the heck out of everyone over everything. I've been in several places that were headlined as "disaster areas" by the media, and there was very little going on. I had to look hard to find it if I wanted to see it for myself.

I also notice the courtesy and generosity of some of the protesters (feeding stranded tourists and finding places for them to sleep) were mostly ignored. Very Thai, but it might not sound scary enough, right?

I'm flying from CM to BKK next week and don't plan on changing my trip. I've lived here for 5 years, and given my experience with Thai people, as long as the planes are flying, I'll be going. In other countries I might be concerned. Not here.

I'd suggest we need to tell the people we know outside Thailand what it's really like here. Are you really scared? Would you really be afraid of going to BKK?

Really?

The political situation is unfortunate and something Thailand will have to sort out. Outsiders can't do much about that, but we can try to counteract the sensationalism in the media, and limit unnecessary fallout as much as we can.

Let's try.

It’s nice to look on the optimistic side, but I never take it for granted that the worst can’t happen.

To be honest and I’m sure others feel the same; this present situation is scaring me, especially as I have a family and set up home here.

Ex-pats living in Thailand would be foolish not to be extremely concerned.

I will be glad when this reaches a conclusion and able to see which way this is all going.

Edited November 27, 2008 by sassienie

[henryalleman]

Thailand on world travel warning list

Countries around the globe yesterday issued warnings to their citizens about travelling to Thailand - a country the Philippines said was lacking in "political maturity."

The comment from President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman, Anthony Golez, was prompted by the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport by protesters.

Asked to explain his comments, Golez said "our people have reached a high degree of political maturity whereby [they] respect due process and the rule of law".

China, France, New Zealand, Singapore, Britain, the United States, Australia and Japan warned through their websites of possible danger to their citizens.

The US Embassy advised Americans to stay away from the airport given the potential for violence and civil disobedience.

"American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations," it said.

The airport seizure would damage investment and tourism industry, US Ambassador Eric John said yesterday.

Shutting down the airport for even one day affected a lot of visitors.

If the closure lasted for long, it would stop tourists from visiting Thailand, he said.

The US Embassy has cooperated with Thai authorities to help American visitors trapped inside the Suvarnabhumi terminal, he said.

The Chinese Embassy warned on its website that Chinese citizens planning to visit Thailand should postpone their plans; while France's foreign affairs ministry suggested that French travellers booked to fly through Bangkok make alternative arrangements.

The New Zealand foreign affairs ministry advised stranded travellers to stay with other tourists, remain close to information counters and follow instructions issued by local authorities.

Similarly, Singapore said citizens without "a pressing need to travel" should postpone their trip.

Britain's Foreign Office issued an updated travel advisory telling Britons to keep abreast of a "very uncertain" political situation.

The Japanese foreign ministry urged its nationals to be cautious. In an alert posted on the ministry's website, it said people planning to visit or to stay in Thailand were advised to check flight information well beforehand.

-- The Nation 2008-11-27

The Belgianministry if foreign affaires give security warning level 3(4is the highest)

1-they warn the people to contact their travel agency because Suva is closed and the don't know when it will open again. They confirm that their is no violence at all agaisnt foreigners, just avoid big crowds thats all.

2- cancel all unneccesary trips to the 4 southern provinces

3- avoid all trips to the Cambodja border because the situation their os still unsafe

[henryalleman]

This was always likely to happen, and what an absolute tragedy for the Tourism industry.

The governments can't be blamed for giving these warnings, as to be honest the place is descending into chaos, although at least previously all the nonsense was pretty much kept to localised areas that did not affect the vast majority of the population, or tourists.

How many years will this place take to recover from this?

Recover will be quick if all problems are fully fixed.

My mother told me in Austria it was not at all in the main TV news yesterday evening, she checked flights for the next few days. All flights not canceled are reporting as full booked not a single seat free.

Spoke with some of my frequent customer and 1/2 didn't heard of problems

Do I overvalue to seizure of the two biggest airports?

Is Thailand as important as Tahiti in the eyes of Europeans (Thailand, Taiwan, Tahiti same same?)?

Their are footages in every news program on all networks in Flanders, also with telephone interviews from Fleming who are blocked in BKK and Chiang Mai, and with background information about who is who on the political scene.

BTW I get many mails from friends asking about the present situation, also asking if my Thai family is save.