Thailand Tourism Bottoming Out in Midst of Mass Rioting

Sometimes mild political turmoil causes travelers to needlessly panic, with sensational news coverage making people think that a crisis is much worse than it is. Those people cancel their vacations, and the resulting drop in tourism opens up great travel deals for the rest of us. That's what's happening with Greece travel right now.

But sometimes spiraling political turmoil causes travelers to correctly panic, with accurate news coverage signaling to people that they need to get the hell out of wherever they are. Those people cancel their vacations, but under no circumstances should you consider taking advantage of the resulting drop in tourism. That's what's happening with Thailand travel right now. Bangkok is in the midst of some of the very worst rioting in the city's modern history. 1,800 people have been injured, and just on Wednesday nine people were killed after they took sanctuary in a temple. The result for the tourism industry, which accounts for 15% Thailand's jobs? Almost $4 billion in losses and still counting.

We ran down the political background of the current crisis during our last Bangkok travel advisory, so there's no need to muddle through the whole rural/urban Shinawatra/Vejjajiva thing again. Suffice to say that tourists who are in Bangkok should be leaving, though not by fleeing to the countryside. The city's surrounding provinces are also in the midst of mass riots, with 52 people killed and 400 wounded across the country last week. Predictions of a long-term guerrilla war are now in the air, and that obviously won't be limited to the cities either. All of which is to say, don't plan a vacation there any time soon.