Mass Red Shirt rally to affect tourism and consumption, says FTI

BANGKOK, Aug 29 (TNA) – Sunday’s planned mass rally by the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will somewhat affect tourism and slow people’s spending and consumption if it drags on, according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

FTI chairman Santi Vilassakdanont said he was not much concerned about the mass demonstration by a group of the so-called Red Shirts because he believes the government will not deal decisively or take a tough enough measures in dealing with the rally, but neither would the incident become violent.

Core members of the UDD had previously announced the rally would not drag on, but that the demonstrators would disperse when the rally ends. So, he is optimistic that the incident would pass without violence.

He said the rally would have a little impact on the industrial sector as the main revenue earned by this sector stems from exports, but it would impact tourism to a certain extent and could slow spending and consumption by the public.

Dusit Nonthanakorn, chairman of the Board of Trade (BoT), said the Thai people should stop doing actions that will batter the country because it could undermine confidence.

Instead, Mr Dusit advised that they should shift to brainstorm ways to address the country’s economic woes.

“Now, the global economy is on the path of recovery. Should Thailand experience political disturbances and civil conflicts, it will make Thailand lose its competitiveness with other countries because foreign investors will avoid investing in the country,” he said. (TNA)