BANGKOK - THOUSANDS of bleary-eyed tourists mingled with yellow-clad protesters who brought flights to a halt at Bangkok's international airport on Wednesday, dealing a major blow to Thailand's tourism industry during its peak season.
The tourism industry, which makes up 6 per cent of the economy and employs about a million people, was already flagging after protesters in late August shut down airports serving popular beach resorts in Thailand's south.

Full Story

The rule of the game in Thailand is that the politicians and the political elites do what they want and allow the normal people to make their living.
But now it's different.
The losses to the people is significant. Tourists will go to Vietnam and Malaysia, and investors will choose Vietnam and China.
So for all these months, the demonstrators do not need to work nor feed their children.
Tourists have to cancel their hotel bookings, the folks on transit have to make alternative arrangements, Thai workers and students cannot go home for holiday. Even frieght cargo is held up.
So the "protesters'" permission is now needed for planes to take off.
How could the leaders of this "democracy movement" face the Thai community or the International community.
The rule of the game has changed.

My husband and I are scheduled to take our annual holiday in Thailand this December. Each year we spedn approximately $10,000 USD perstay in Thailand.
This year we are going to cancel our Thai holiday and go to Singapore instead because of this unrest in the airport. I suspect we are not the only ones who are going to take our tourist dollars elsewhere because of the airport closures.
Although I sympathize with the anti-government protesters, I think they are hurting themselves and the Thai economy more than they are hurting the

On behalf of Singapore, I thank TouristGirl for her support and welcome her to Singapore. We could sure do with support from more such tourists, even though I do feel sorry for the ordinary Thai people who do not deserve to suffer from the selfishness of a few rabblerousing mobsters.

i was the few fortunate ones who managed to get out of Bangkok before the airport was fully closed. my flight on tuesday was at 6:30pm. when the taxi i was in reached reached near to the airport, we suddenly realised we were in a middle of a massive traffic jam. the protestors have started closing the road to the airport. you can see poor tourists getting off the taxis and dragging their luggages along as they raced on their feet to the airport. I had to alight from the taxi and dragged my bags and made my way across a very busy road to get to the other side and somehow some taxis was bringing people into the airport via another route. but there were many men carrying steel rods shouting at the tourists to get into the taxis. the drivers were charging high prices. 100 baht for less than 5 min's drive. shortly after my flight has departed, the airport was closed.
There is certainly no more smiles in the Land of Smiles...at least for the stranded tourists.

Very wise of the current PM.
Don't fall for the bait of the mob's actions.
Don't over-react.
Let the mob have enough rope to hang themselves with.
Which is exactly what they did.
And drunk with the illusory power that they think they got from squatting at Parliament house for months, this time they over-reached themselves. They got themselves into a PR debacle. It will destroy their image. People will always have an image of them as an unruly mob after this. No to be taken seriously as an alternative political party that has the merit and wisdom to govern.

The Thai PM will throw in the towel soon, the sooner the better. If not, the King will ask him to do so.

I had plans to go to Thailand from 6Dec to 10Dec.
I have always enjoyed going to Thailand. I like to spend on shopping, food and interstate travel. It has always been a safe country to go to.
But now with the taking over of the airport by a group of "thugs", my impression is slowly changing and I think this time it is irreversible.
I hope the Thai people wake up from this episode and realise that they must respect the people's votes. However much the Americans don't like Bush, (now they like Obama), it is only temporary and new elections will bring new leaders and change. So why worry if the PAD don't get to win this time, there is always next time.
And like a game, a contest, there will be winners and losers. Lose and gain respect cos the next game, the losers may win. Just play the game fair.

It's more than just a sign of the times.
Won't be too long before the British take to the streets as well.
Could be quite some time for $ingapore though.

#8

The Thai king dropped his towel. That is why he is so quiet.