Sally Furniss
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Flu outbreak hurts tourism
<dl class="columnistProfile"><dd>By: BangkokPost.com</dd><dd>Published: 9/07/2009 at 12:23 PM</dd></dl> The flu pandemic is expected to continue for months and will add to the burdens of the country’s suffering tourism sector, Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa said on Thursday.
Mr Chumpol said the swine flu outbreak and its spread worldwide will have a psychological effect on foreign tourists, who were liekly to cancel overseas travel plans.
The flu pandemic was just one more factor in the recession in the tourism sector, which was already suffering under the global financial meltdown, which had seen world tourism sink by 20 per cent.
Added to that was the effect of the seizure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports by supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy late last year, the Songkran riots and the disruption and cancellation of the Pattaya Asean summit. All this had contributed to driving foreign tourists away from Thailand.
The minister optimistically said this might be a good to time to freshen and improve tourist destinations across the country.
He said he would next month visit China to meet his Chinese counterpart to discuss tourism promotion between the two countries.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/148425/flu-outbreak-hurts-tourism
<dl class="columnistProfile"><dd>By: BangkokPost.com</dd><dd>Published: 9/07/2009 at 12:23 PM</dd></dl> The flu pandemic is expected to continue for months and will add to the burdens of the country’s suffering tourism sector, Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa said on Thursday.
Mr Chumpol said the swine flu outbreak and its spread worldwide will have a psychological effect on foreign tourists, who were liekly to cancel overseas travel plans.
The flu pandemic was just one more factor in the recession in the tourism sector, which was already suffering under the global financial meltdown, which had seen world tourism sink by 20 per cent.
Added to that was the effect of the seizure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports by supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy late last year, the Songkran riots and the disruption and cancellation of the Pattaya Asean summit. All this had contributed to driving foreign tourists away from Thailand.
The minister optimistically said this might be a good to time to freshen and improve tourist destinations across the country.
He said he would next month visit China to meet his Chinese counterpart to discuss tourism promotion between the two countries.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/148425/flu-outbreak-hurts-tourism