|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thai travel warnings deter tourists
From Tom Mintier
PHUKET, Thailand (CNN) -- Thailand's Patong Beach is a place where bartenders juggle flaming cocktails, bargirls gyrate and tourists congregate. Music pounds the eardrums, blazing neon turns the night into day. It is also a place where many governments are warning tourists not to visit, amid fears of another terrorist attack like Bali. The warnings and advisories have angered Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. "I would like to ask the country like U.S. ... if the US is so nervous about it ... then you serve the purpose of the terrorism," he warned. But the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand says that while his government warned citizens to be cautious, they did not tell them not to visit Thailand. "I think after the Bali bombing in the middle of October one has to assume that no place is completely safe, including the U.S. ... and I think we have to assume on the basis of the warning that was issued last week that the terrorists are sufficiently organized and sufficiently determined to try to carry out terrorist acts," said ambassador, Darryl Johnson. The ambassador said his government must provide information it has to the public. Dramatic impactThat information has had a dramatic impact on tourism in Phuket. Jan Ohlsson's restaurant normally has one thousand customers a night, now the number is about six hundred. Empty tables are clear evidence of the impact. "I think its only rumors ... but it hurts you? It hurts a lot ... it hurts everybody," comments Ohlsson. And it's not only Patong Beach feeling the effect of the travel warnings; five-star hotels like the newly opened JW Marriott Resort and Spa are too. Europeans and Japanese make up about half the hotel's customers and many are staying away. "For the month of November we had some cancellations that could have affected our business by as much as eight to ten percent," says the hotel's general manager, Kevin Beauvais. Phuket's Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi says the warnings have affected others even harder. SecurityThe government has taken steps to insure security. Police roadblocks search for weapons and drugs and officers are out in full force. And even where they are not visible, they are watching. "We can zoom to see. Closed circuit TV cameras scan the streets for trouble ... more are being installed. Private security firms are doing a good business ... everyone entering a bar is frisked for weapons," says Vasaputi. The Governor did admit that there were threats against two locations, both the Tiger club and Banana disco. Tourism officials in Phuket say while the warnings and advisories have hurt business they feel with increased security and no incidents things will soon return to normal. "Now we are running about 60 percent, we expect to have about 70 and next year we hope to have 75 if all goes well...I think it will be okay," Pattanapong Aikwanich of the Phuket Tourist Association said. Many holiday travelers did not cancel their vacations but simply delayed them for a few months. Meanwhile Phuket holds out hope that the yellow caution light will return to green in the next few months and tourist destinations will return to normal.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
