Responding to Crises in Thailand: A Governance Analysis 95
airport security bill and an internal security act (TNA, 2009). This crisis also received widespread international media coverage and source market govern-ments again issued advisory notices warning their residents against travel to Thailand (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2009).
Media reports of risk and the resultant perceptions of political instability at a tourist destination are key factors infl uencing decisions made by travellers, the industry and investors, who all generally show an aversion to risk (Henderson, 2006). Natural disasters initially attract substantial media attention, often lasting for a relatively short but intensive period of time. In contrast, the effects of a continued and sustained political crisis can attract media coverage for a much longer period (Beirman, 2002; Baral et al., 2004).
Increasingly, events are fi lmed informally on individual travellers’ mobile phones and forwarded instantly to major media such as the BBC and CNN, thereby effectively negating any efforts by the host government to limit media access to incidents or to control the way in which the events are portrayed. In turn, localized political incidents may result in serious damage to the country as a whole, the wider region and even the world through what has been termed the
‘generalization effect’ (Lepp and Gibson, 2003).
Furthermore, international tourists also tend to be more vulnerable to a political crisis than domestic tourists. Due to distance and unfamiliarity, interna-tional tourists are likely to have distorted perceptions of risk caused by inaccurate and incomplete circulated information (Henderson, 2006). Another factor which infl uences consumer decisions to visit a destination is the availability of travel insurance coverage. Many travel insurance policies have an exemption clause which denies coverage to travellers who suffer death, injury or property loss resulting from political violence or civil disorder, typically defi ned as areas under travel advisories (Beirman, 2002).
96 K. Campiranon et al.
Singaporean government’s investment arm, Temasek Holding. Thaksin dis-solved Parliament on 24 February 2006 and called a snap election for 2 April 2006. The election was widely boycotted by the opposition party and the Supreme Court declared the election invalid, with new elections set for 15 October 2006. On 4 April 2006, Thaksin announced that he would step down as prime minister as soon as Parliament had selected a successor (The Nation, 2008a). As a result, throughout the summer of 2006 hundreds of thou-sands of the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) took to the streets to demand Thaksin’s resignation, prompting the army to oust him in a bloodless coup (CNN, 2008).
New elections were held approximately 1 year after the coup, although subsequent governments have been seen as Thaksin’s nominees. Samak Sundaravej, Thaksin’s successor, was an avowed Thaksin ally, but was forced to step down in August 2008 after Thailand’s Supreme Court ruled he had violated the constitution (by appearing on a TV cookery show). Somchai Wongsawat (Thaksin’s brother-in-law), then became prime minister in September 2008 (CNN, 2008).
PAD organized rallies to pressurize Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to resign, attracting massive support. Crowds occupied Government House (the Thai prime minister’s main offi ces) in what they have called their ‘fi nal battle’
against the government (CNN, 2008). On 25 November 2008, PAD members stormed police lines at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand’s main airport, a crucial South-east Asian hub, and occupied the departure hall. This move forced offi cials to suspend outbound fl ights temporarily and some arriving fl ights were re-routed to the northern city of Chiang Mai or the southern resort island of Phuket (Wire News, 2008).
Moreover, PAD demonstrators started massing at the old Don Mueang Airport on 26 November 2008, aiming to prevent government ministers from fl ying to Chiang Mai to meet Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat. As a result of closing both Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports, all international fl ights to and from Bangkok were cancelled (Bangkok Post, 2008). The closure of both airports had an immediate and direct impact on airports, airlines and the wider tourism industry. Airports of Thailand (AoT) have estimated initial damage to its operations from the week-long closure of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi Airports at 540 million baht, excluding lost business opportunities (Travel Black-board, 2008). Thai Airways, Thailand’s major carrier, estimated its daily loss at 500 million baht (The Nation, 2008b).
The protesters ended their siege on 3 December 2008 after the Constitutional Court dissolved Somchai’s ruling party, effectively ousting his government from offi ce. The court ruled that the People Power Party had committed electoral fraud and it barred Somchai and other top party offi cials from holding public offi ce for 5 years (CNN, 2008). Subsequently, Bangkok’s international airport reopened on 5 December 2008. Although Thailand’s airports were back in oper-ation, business experts forecast that the economic damage caused by the coun-try’s political crisis would persist for some time as the councoun-try’s image had been affected negatively by the political crisis (Dawson, 2008). Table 8.2 presents a timeline of the political events described above.
Responding to Crises in Thailand: A Governance Analysis 97
Table 8.2. Timeline of key events of anti-Thaksin protests.
29 January 2008 Samak Sundaravej, seen by anti-Thaksin protestors as Thaksin’s nominee, forms a coalition government and becomes prime minister after winning the majority of seats in the 2007 general elections.
28 February 2008 Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returns to Thailand. He and his wife face charges of corruption.
28 March 2008 The PAD regroups, threatening to resume protests against Thaksin.
25 May 2008 The PAD begins demonstrations at Democracy Monument, demanding Samak’s resignation, and later settles at Makkhawan Rangsan Bridge.
27 June 2008 Samak’s government survives no-confi dence motion in parliament.
11 August 2008 Thaksin and his wife travel to the UK, violating bail.
26 August 2008 PAD protesters invade Government House, three ministries and the headquarters of the NBT (National Broadcasting Television).
Little effort is made to remove the protesters from Government House, although minor clashes between police and protesters are seen.
29 August 2008 Rail and air transport are disrupted by PAD supporters, although services resumed a few days later.
2 September 2008 Anti-PAD protesters clash with the PAD, leaving 1 dead and 43 injured. A state of emergency is declared in Bangkok, lasting until 14 September.
9 September 2008 The Constitutional Court fi nds Samak guilty of confl ict of interest, terminating his premiership.
17 September 2008 Somchai Wongsawat is ratifi ed by the National Assembly and becomes prime minister. He is rejected by the PAD for being Thaksin’s brother-in-law.
29 September 2008 Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh begins negotiations with PAD leaders.
4–5 October 2008 PAD leaders, Chaiwat Sinsuwongse and Chamlong Srimuang, are arrested by police on insurrection charges fi led shortly after the invasion of Government House in August.
6 October 2008 PAD protesters attempt to block a parliament session in which Prime Minster Somchai seeks approval of his policies. Police attempt to disperse protesters using tear gas. Somchai is forced to cross a fence to exit, while members of parliament are stranded in the building for many hours. Intermittent clashes leave 2 dead and over 300 injured, including 20 policemen. Troops are deployed to help control the situation.
9 October 2008 An appeals court withdraws insurrection charges against PAD leaders and releases Chamlong and Chaiwat on bail. The following day, the remaining PAD leaders turn themselves in to police and are released on bail.
21 October 2008 The constitutional court fi nds Thaksin guilty in a land purchase confl ict of interest case and sentences him to 2 years in prison.
8 November 2008 The government of the UK, where Thaksin had been residing primarily, revokes the visas of Thaksin and his wife Pojaman.
(Continued )
98 K. Campiranon et al.
Discussion of airport closure
The closure of Bangkok’s airports was a disaster for Thai tourism and indicated that the political confl ict was rising to a new level, placing Thailand’s tourism industry in jeopardy at the onset of the high season and increasing the proba-bility of a change in government at a time when the country was struggling to deal with a major global economic crisis (Barta, 2008). The Tourism and Sports Minister also stated that the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport caused severe damage to the tourism, hotel, airline, travel agency and related industries, as the airport was the country’s main gateway to Thailand (The Nation, 2008b).
Kaur (2008) predicted that the tourism sector could lose up to US$6 billion in revenue – a sum equivalent to 1.5% of Thailand’s gross domestic product.
International media coverage of the PAD protests, and in particular their occu-pation of the airport, and travel advisories issued by the governments of sig-nifi cant source countries such as the USA, Australia and the UK, compounded the challenges to Thailand’s tourism industry. For example, the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Website, providing travel advice for Thailand on 29 March 2010 (Australian Government, 2010), indicated ‘exercise a high degree of caution because of the high threat of terrorist attack and because of political instability in Thailand’ and ‘there is a strong possibility of violence and civil unrest in Thailand, particularly in Bangkok. Anti-government protesters have been demonstrating in Bangkok since 12 March.’
The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s (TAT) Tourism Intelligence Unit moni-tors ongoing developments and trends domestically, as well as in each of its international markets. The latest situation updates from TAT’s international Table 8.2. Continued
25 November 2008 The PAD blockades Don Mueang, where the government relocated its temporary offi ces, and Suvarnabhumi International Airports, leaving thousands of tourists stranded and cutting off most of Thailand’s international air connections. Several explosions and clashes occur in the following days.
2 December 2008 After weeks of opposition-led protests, the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolved the governing People’s Power Party and two coalition member parties and banned leaders of the parties, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, from politics for 5 years. Wongsawat promptly resigned.
5 December 2008 Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports reopened.
15 December 2008 Thailand’s parliament chose opposition leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, as the country’s new prime minister, drawing angry protests from supporters of the recently dissolved Somchai ruling party outside.
Sources: various articles cited in the text.
Responding to Crises in Thailand: A Governance Analysis 99
network of offi ces are available online on a real-time basis, serving as an early detection and early warning mechanism that alerts TAT to potential problems which TAT and the Thai tourism industry need to address jointly and resolve. In the turbulent conditions of 2008–2009, TAT’s network of offi ces worldwide con-ducted surveys which revealed that the downturn in tourism resulted from a number of factors: the impact of the global economic slowdown, the political instability leading up to the airport closure and the subsequent protests in April 2009, and H1N1 A. TAT noted that:
The sensitivity varies from market to market. The survey fi ndings revealed that 6 out of 21 key source markets for visitor arrivals to Thailand – or 28 per cent – considered Infl uenza A (H1N1) to be the key factor in the decision not to travel to Thailand. While 17 out of the 21 markets – or 81 per cent – indicated that the political unrest and political instability that subsequently led to the airport closure and Songkran protest in April 2009 was the most important contributor to the decline in outbound travel to Thailand.
(Svetasreni, 2009)