Mall Shooting: Thailand Pledges To Restore Tourist Confidence
Thailand will restore confidence in its critical tourism sector, Officials have said on Wednesday, a day after a shooting spree at a luxury shopping mall in which two foreigners were killed.
Police have arrested a teenager suspected of unleashing a volley of gunfire at the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok’s commercial heart on Tuesday, killing two women, one from China and the other from Myanmar, and wounding five people.
The shooting came as new Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is trying to bolster tourism, a key driver of Southeast Asia’s second largest economy that has been slow to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
China is vital to that effort as the biggest source of foreign visitors to Thailand in pre-COVID years.
Srettha’s administration last month introduced visa-free entry for Chinese nationals to facilitate travel and help overcome what Thailand had said were unfounded worries about safety.
Thapanee Kiatphaibool, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said Government agencies would do even more to restore confidence.
“We need to improve security in all areas for Thai and foreign tourists,” she told reporters without outlining any specific steps.
Srettha, a property developer who was elected Prime Minister in August, said in a social media post that his Government would “implement the highest safety measures” for tourists.
Although gun violence and gun ownership are common in Thailand, security checks in public areas, including shopping malls and transport systems, are typically relaxed.
“This will impact tourism confidence and will affect our reputation,” said Somsong Sachaphimukh, Vice President of the Tourism Council of Thailand industry group.
“In the past, there were complaints about safety from China but this was something unthinkable.”
Thailand recorded 20 million foreign tourist arrivals in the January to October period, who spent 839 billion baht ($22.58 billion). Its target is 29 million visitors this year.
REUTERS
