Thailand is continuing to offer insurance coverage worth US$10,000 to anyone harmed in riots and demonstrations as it seeks to attract tourists scared off by political turmoil, officials say.
Other carrots range from a waiver on all visa fees to discounts on airline landing fees.
“The measures are to support the tourism industry. The situation has been recovering but the businesses still need help,” Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said this week.
Thailand has been plagued by political conflict since the ouster of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a 2006 military coup. More demonstrations are scheduled by his supporters for the middle of this month.
Last year, the number of tourists dropped to 14.1 million, an 8 percent decrease from the previous year while revenue shrank to 527 billion baht (US$16 billion), a 3 percent drop from 2008. Tourism is the country’s No. 1 foreign currency earner.
The free insurance coverage, along with other tourism stimulus measures, was initially put in place after the seizure of Bangkok’s two airports in late 2008. Hundreds of thousands of tourists were stranded in the country.
Tourism and Sports Ministry spokesman Vachara Kannikar said the US$10,000 coverage has been extended until the end of the year and applies to any foreign visitor who experiences loss or damage from political upheavals, including death, injury or disability. Victims will also receive free medical treatment and a daily US$1,000 in compensation if hospitalized for more than 10 days.
Tourists who face travel delays because of riots or demonstrations will be given US$100 per day. However, this amount and the hospital stay cannot exceed a total of US$10,000.
POLITICAL PATRIARCHS: Recent clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are driven by an escalating feud between rival political families, analysts say The dispute over Thailand and Cambodia’s contested border, which dates back more than a century to disagreements over colonial-era maps, has broken into conflict before. However, the most recent clashes, which erupted on Thursday, have been fueled by another factor: a bitter feud between two powerful political patriarchs. Cambodian Senate President and former prime minister Hun Sen, 72, and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, were once such close friends that they reportedly called one another brothers. Hun Sen has, over the years, supported Thaksin’s family during their long-running power struggle with Thailand’s military. Thaksin and his sister Yingluck stayed
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
‘ARBITRARY’ CASE: Former DR Congo president Joseph Kabila has maintained his innocence and called the country’s courts an instrument of oppression Former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) president Joseph Kabila went on trial in absentia on Friday on charges including treason over alleged support for Rwanda-backed militants, an AFP reporter at the court said. Kabila, who has lived outside the DR Congo for two years, stands accused at a military court of plotting to overthrow the government of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi — a charge that could yield a death sentence. He also faces charges including homicide, torture and rape linked to the anti-government force M23, the charge sheet said. Other charges include “taking part in an insurrection movement,” “crime against the
Residents across Japan’s Pacific coast yesterday rushed to higher ground as tsunami warnings following a massive earthquake off Russia’s far east resurfaced painful memories and lessons from the devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster. Television banners flashed “TSUNAMI! EVACUATE!” and similar warnings as most broadcasters cut regular programming to issue warnings and evacuation orders, as tsunami waves approached Japan’s shores. “Do not be glued to the screen. Evacuate now,” a news presenter at public broadcaster NHK shouted. The warnings resurfaced memories of the March 11, 2011, earthquake, when more than 15,000 people died after a magnitude 9 tremor triggered a massive tsunami that
RSS