EFL:
Tourists have fled Thailand’s troubled southern provinces after a weekend bomb attack targeted Malaysians, and officials say they fear it may take years to draw visitors back. Saturday’s blast, which wounded 28 people in Sungai Kolok, a bawdy town on the Malaysian border popular with tourists, was the first aimed at civilians and the resulting panic has devastated the tourism industry. "Within the next two years, a lot of people who work in tourism here will become fishermen," Abdul Aziz Awangseman, chairman of Narathiwat province’s Tourist Business Association, told AFP.
| Tourism involves having fun, which is un-islamic. |
"After the events of January 4, tourism decreased here by about 70 per cent, but the bomb happened just one kilometre from the Malaysian border, so people in Malaysia are scared, and maybe it’s down to 90 percent now."
| Boomers plan seems to be working. |
Thailand’s government has been confounded by the attacks, which have left more than 55 people dead and prompting the sackings of the ministers for defence and interior as well as the regional army chief.
| Reports are that Thailand also pulled some troops out to avoid hurting muslim feelings. |
Since Saturday’s bombing in Sungai Kolok, a town packed with karaoke bars and brothels, hoteliers and officials in the region have witnessed a mass exodus of mainly Malaysian tourists. "Bookings are down about 50 per cent since Saturday," said Sopha Tawa, a manager at the Royal Princess Hotel in Narathiwat, the provincial capital’s most up-market lodgings. "There are no tourists from Malaysia anymore, only Thai tourists, and most of those are government workers."
| A light dawns. The attacks have all been in the south. Most of the tourists in the south seem to be from Malaysia. Malaysia is a mostly muslim country, so it would stand to reason a lot of these tourists would be muslims crossing into Thailand to partake in a little fun denied them at home. Malaysian islamic fundis see this, don't like it and decide to put a crimp in their fun. This would explain why the attacks have been in the muslim south of Thailand and not against the western tourist traps in Bangkok. |
Meanwhile, Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra said the culprits behind a weekend bomb attack in Thailand’s Muslim south have slipped across the border to Malaysia due to red tape that delayed their arrest. Thaksin said that Thai authorities were working with Malaysian officials to track down the suspects.
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