Bombs in Thailand: An Opportunity for Cambodia?

[geovalin]

 

Thailand could lose up to 200,000 foreign visitors and $293 million in tourism revenue this year, the head of its tourism authority said yesterday, after a series of deadly bomb blasts in tourist towns last week. The wave of attacks in places including the seaside town of Hua Hin and the holiday island of Phuket is the biggest challenge to an industry that has weathered more than a decade of instability and bounced back from numerous outbreaks of violence over recent years.
 

Yuthasak Supasorn, the governor of the state-run Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the attacks could result in long-term losses in terms of tourist revenue and arrivals, mainly from other Asian countries. “By the year end, there could be about 100,000 to 200,000 travel cancellations,” he said in a statement yesterday.
 

“That would cost about 5.08 billion baht [$146 million] to 10.16 billion baht [$293 million].” Tourism accounts for 10 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product and is one of the few bright spots in an economy that has struggled under the stewardship of a military government that seized power in a bloodless coup two years ago.

 

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