BANGKOK, 13 November 2013 Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is asking members of the public to end their protests. She also opposes the protest leaders’ call for all workers to go on strike and stop paying taxes.
According to Ms. Yingluck, damage will be incurred to the country if people proceeded with the civil disobedience plan. She re-emphasized that the government would not use force against demonstrators, and that it was also ready to hold talks with the various groups who had differing opinions.
On Tuesday, Ms. Yingluck also met with tourism business operators to discuss the effects the protests were having on the tourism scene. The businesses believed that if the demonstrations were limited to certain spots in Bangkok, the number of tourist arrivals will reach 26.2 million, as targeted for this year. However, they noted that the domestic tourism scene was starting to feel effects from the protests.
The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s Center of Economics and Business Forecasting on Tuesday indicated that between 30-50 billion baht worth of tourism revenue would be lost if the protests dragged on until early next year, and the loss would be much higher, up to 200 billion baht, if the protests continued even further.
