Weather & Tides Play Page 3
28 January 2011
F R EE WEEK LY
Sudoku Classifieds Gray Day
AN ILL WIND?
WILL YELLOW AND RED SHIRT RALLIES IN BANGKOK AFFECT TOURISM IN HUA HIN?
HUA HIN THAILAND The vast majority of business owners in the tourist industry in Thailand would have let out a groan as new rallies were announced by both the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). Even if the rallies are peaceful, the prospect of things turning nasty again will surely be enough for some people to either cancel existing bookings or choose different countries, and given the hair trigger reactions by foreign governments last time when official warnings not to travel to Thailand were issued and thus insurance for travel here at that time invalid, this is another blow to a high season already blighted by the previous troubles, and here in Hua Hin by local restrictions as outlined in last week’s issue of AWOL. However, all may not be lost, as whatever happens with the rallies, tourists who do come and residents in Bangkok may choose to spend less time there and more time in places like Hua Hin, and with an apparently weakening baht making Thailand cheaper for some Western tourists it can only be hoped that outweighs any of the negatives. Those of us who have lived and worked in this town in the last few years know that everything carries on here as normal regardless of events elsewhere in the country, be it the military coup in 2006, freak weather such as the tsunami of 2004, the unrest in the south, the occupation of the airport by the yellow shirts or the violence that erupted at the red shirt protest last year, with at most some minor travel issues in the majority of cases. It is perhaps something that potential visitors should be made aware of to encourage them to come to the town.
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