Maybe a coup isn’t bad for tourism, after all

Asia — By Bob Riel on September 21, 2006 at 10:03 am

Under normal conditions, a military coup against a democratically elected government would seem to be bad for national morale, at the very least, and potentially devastating for tourism. Apparently, though, that is not always true. At least not in Thailand.

This is how the Washington Post describes the scene in Bangkok a day after the Thai Army deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and established military control over the country.

Despite the new period of uncertainty, ushered in by a coup that was denounced by the United States and other foreign governments, many Thais in the capital appeared overjoyed.

“Democracy has won!” said an ecstatic Orathai Dechodomphan, 59, a tailor and Thaksin opponent who joined hundreds of people handing out roses to soldiers near the army headquarters. “Thaksin tried to steal power and did not respect our king. He never would have left on his own. What happened yesterday is our first step toward recovering a real democracy.”

The New York Times this morning points out the obvious irony of staging an undemocratic military coup in the name of restoring democracy. In general, though, the country seems largely unaffected by the recent turn of events and even the tourist industry is only expected to be impacted for a brief period of time.

World Hum, meanwhile, has this to say about the coup’s relatively minor affect on tourists so far:

Apparently the banana pancakes-eating, hair-braiding backpacker set hanging out on Bangkok’s Kao San Road continues to, uh, chill, despite the tumultuous events of the last 24 hours in Thailand.