Bangkok siege over,but Delhiites still head back home

Dharam Goyal,a businessman from Delhi,too had to cut short his trip on Wednesday. Before boarding his flight to Delhi,he told Newsline that he had gone there on May 15,along with his wife and children,to attend the wedding of a relative. However,due to the situation in Bangkok,the marriage was shifted to another location and the family had to leave immediately afterwards. “I have been to Bangkok four times before,but have never faced such a situation. It was tough to reach the airport with fires on the road,” he said.

However,Tourism Authority of Thailand is trying its best to woo back tourists. A statement on its website said the government has “put the overall situation under control. The military and police officers had already halted their operations without making further advance”.

In Delhi,travel agents too said the crisis has not deterred people from visiting Thailand and it was still a popular destination. Harkripal Singh,chief representative of the Travel Agents’ Association of India,said not many tickets have been cancelled as only Bangkok was under siege. “The country is still a major attraction for us. It’s like Sri Lanka,where tourism did was not hit by the long civil war.”

Unlike the US and UK governments,India has not yet issued any advisory for Thailand. But Airport officials,on conditions of anonymity,said airline companies have been asked not to charge extra money from people canceling their tickets. “However,there have been no major cancellations,” said one of them.