FINAL RESEARCH PAPER

THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND MILITARY COUP OF 2014 UPON

THAILAND’S TOURISM INDUSTRY

BS 3149 – Research Methods in a Hospitality Context

Instructor: Dr. Behroor Zandi

Student ID:

Student Name: Sirawit Prayote

20th July 2016

Words: 3802

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 ABSTRACT

Thailand is ranked in top ten for tourism throughout the world. In the south-east Asia,
it ranks in the top 5 and is a very popular destination for travel. Their image and reputation
for travel and tourism is very high mainly due to their immaculate beach settings, charming
temples and the fact that it is known as the land of smiles. However, this image can easily be
destroyed by external factor such as politics. Thailand for decades is not able to fulfil a single
term of governance without any obstruction. Currently, it operates as a constitutional
monarchy however, there is a separate body that is responsible for the legislative aspect of
the country. The military coup of 2014 is a very famous one that grabbed the attention of
several countries worldwide and caused nation-wide havoc. This damaged the image of
Thailand for a safe destination for travel as there were various violent protests and civil
unrest that questioned the safety and security of the tourists. The researcher distributed 30
surveys in Phuket, Thailand requesting for the opinion of the local residents regarding the
impact of the coup upon the tourism industry. He had limited span of time to conduct
research and therefore, there were some limitations to this approach.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

UNIT 1 – Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 3

UNIT 2 – Literature review --------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 5

2.1 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 5

2.2 The relationship of tourism and politics ----------------------------------------- PG. 5

2.3 Thailand’s political situation --------------------------------------------------------- PG. 6

2.4 The impact of military coup on Thai tourism ----------------------------------- PG. 7

UNIT 3 – Methodology --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 9

3.1 Ideology ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 9

3.2 The Survey --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 9

3.3 Sampling technique -------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 10

UNIT 4 – Results and Analysis ---------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 11

4.1 The Demographics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 11

4.2 The impact of political instability on tourism --------------------------------- PG. 11

4.3 Political situation of Thailand ------------------------------------------------------- PG. 13

4.4 Impact of military coup of 2014 upon Thai tourism -------------------------- PG. 13

UNIT 5 – Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PG. 15

UNIT 6 – References ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PG. 16

UNIT 7 – Appendix -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 17

7.1 Survey --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PG. 17

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 UNIT 1 – INTRODUCTION

Thailand’s tourism industry is booming mainly due to their immaculate beaches,

commercial hubs in Bangkok and due to the standard of living. Furthermore, Thailand is one
of the most visited countries in Asia pacific with tourism accounting towards a large
contributor of their GDP (Vanhaleweyk, 2016). Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya are one of the
most visited tourist destinations of Thailand. Tourists are influenced by these cities either
due to their environmental pull, scenic beauty, international cross-road for airlines or their
commercial centralization. Generally, a Nation’s tourism is influenced by its political, social
and economic factors that collectively are responsible for the increased influx of tourists from
all around the world. Thailand is widely known for various types of tourism. Amongst them,
leisure tourism, wellness and recreation tourism, weekend escape, wildlife tourism and even
cultural tourism are home to Thailand. Momentarily, Thailand is opening various locations
within their jurisdiction for tourism (Vanhaleweyk, 2016). The tourism authority aims at
strengthening the influx of tourists at their major cities, while gradually growing awareness
amongst other small-scale yet attractive cities and destinations.

Of many factors, political factors affect tourism in numerous nations regardless of

their infrastructure and security available. The rules, regulations and political stability impact
heavily upon the incoming tourism as these display the freedom and flexibility available.
Elections or voting does not concern tourism, however, with the rise of tensions between
political parties and the general public, security, economic factors and intellectual as well as
social factors are highly influenced. These may result in reduced attraction towards these
destination as tourists might fear for their well-being in these nations. Politic instability may
lead to civil unrest that may hinder tourism and also affect the day to day activities and
services that are provided for leisure purposes (Porananond, 2015). Apart from such
situations, politics may corrupt the authorities and officials within their jurisdiction, leading to
hurdles in conducting day to day activities for the local people. Corruption would lead to
delayed government work, which would then in return cause hurdles for any further
paperwork or registration process that may come ahead for licensing and officially
establishing and enterprise within a jurisdiction. Military coup, civil unrest, political instability
and even overthrow of a democratic government are some of the political factors that affect
tourism (Porananond, 2015). In addition, with the increase in such situations, the Chamber
of Commerce may warn the citizens of their nation to avoid travelling to these destinations.

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 The researcher grew curiosity with regards to this particular topic mainly due to the
fact that in 2014, Thailand underwent a military coup that reshaped the tourism industry of
Thailand (Bloomberg, 2016). The political upheaval of the democratic government resulted in
decrease of tourism that was covered by various media networks throughout the globe and
therefore, the researcher grew anxious regarding the interdependency of political factors and
the influx of tourism along with the perception. In addition, political crisis often impacts the
economic and legal factors that revolve around prosperous tourism options.

Government funding towards the promotion of tourism is generally one of the most
effective means of creating awareness. This could be done via display advertisements in
and around the airport, social media and viral marketing showcasing the wonders of the
region including the environmental and natural factors. If the political situation of a nation is
stable, the adjacent industries boom accordingly as well.

The aim of this research project is to explore the effects of political instability and other
political factors that impact tourism and hospitality industry of Thailand. In order to achieve
this aim, the researcher has set forth a few objectives that are necessary to be met for
concrete analysis and conclusion. They are:

 To examine the influence of political factors on tourism and hospitality industry

 To analyse the political situation in Thailand
 To discover the political impact of the military coup on the hotel industry and how is
the tourism industry inclined towards their political situation

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 UNIT 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

The issue of political stability within nations that are considered worth touring is
significant as it transparently illustrates the security and safety of the tourists once visiting
the country for leisure purposes. With the onset of media as one of the most reliable source
of information, the images displayed by them portrays the overall social, economic and
political environment of the nation (Erawan, Krairit and Khang, 2011). Therefore, any
negative images such as military coup, civil unrest or of protests would more likely reduce
the chance of attracting any potential tourists to the nation. Political instability is a term well
defined when a nation’s government’s day to day functions and rights have been halted
either following a military coup or due to civil unrest leading to poor social, economic and
safety conditions. {} These are certain extrinsic factors that are out of the Tourism Authority’s
jurisdiction to control and maintain.

2.2 The relationship of politics and tourism

There is no direct relationship of politics and tourism that immediately effects either of
the forces. In fact, politics has very little to do with tourism policies as these are monitored
and enforced by the Tourism Authority of the nation. However, the tourism authorities do
consult with the political regimen of the state or the nation in order to enforce certain rules
and regulations that might involve the general public. For instance, Thailand bans the export
and sale of statues of Buddha from Thailand for outbound tourists (Erawan, Krairit and
Khang, 2011). However, in order to efficiently enforce the law, the tourism authorities have to
comply with the political parties to have it written in the constitution and voiced out
adequately to the general public in order to avoid any such acts of crime. Tourism integrates
the economic, political, cultural and intellectual benefits of a nation and educates, informs
and distributes knowledge to the tourists visiting the nation in order to provide a higher
standard of living and create a base for peace and prosperity. Tourism, however, can be
used as a tool not only for economic benefit, but also for political benefit. A political party
rooting for the elections could state to improve tourism facilities and services for international

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tourists. This would help them gain more votes as an increase in tourism would lead to
higher income and more spending within the destination. Political parties do not dissolve
themselves with the matters of tourism politics as they generally deem it to be a separate
entity that governs the rules and regulations. Therefore, there is a lack of interest from such
government entities (Morales, 2011). Generally, a government emphasizes on the economic
and social development of its nation. Once this need is fulfilled, they are under pressure to
increase the economy post-industrial development. This can easily be achieved by making
efforts in strengthening the image of a city as a tourist destination. Therefore, the
relationship between politics and tourism is vast, however, it is mostly undermined and
neglected as politics plays a larger role in other industries and general legislation of the
country. Government funding towards development and infrastructure of less developed yet
remarkably beautiful cities would aid the tourism authorities to promote the destination as a
holiday spot (Mihalic and Aramberri, 2015). On the contrary, if the government is less
supportive of such measures, tourism would decline as the standard of living and quality of
life as well as safety and security would perish to meet the desired standards for safe travel.

2.3 Thailand’s political situation

Thailand has conducted its political framework as a constitutional monarchy until mid
of 2012 after which, the military coup reshaped the political perspective of the nation. The
military organization, National Council for Peace and Order, is currently in charge of all the
legislative decisions that are to be taken on behalf of the nation. Before the year 1932,
Thailand was simply a monarchy where the rules and legislation was written by the head of
the nation (BBC, 2016). However, 1932 brought about the Siamese revolution that changed
the constitutional jurisdiction of the monarchs. At this point, certain powerful dignitaries along
with military and bureaucratic elites toyed around with the constitution and legislation of
Thailand for around half a century. In 1988, Thai Nation Party won the first ever democratic
election, which was overthrown by a casualty-less military coup. 1992 marked a savage year
for Thai politics when a former army commander was elected the Prime Minister of Thailand
by faulty votes. Thais were outraged and this was followed by a violent military coup
executing over 750 Thai protestors that caught the attention of several nations. Following
this, Thaksin Shinawatra began its rule in 2001 until 2006 where he was overthrown yet
again by a bloodless military coup mainly due to corruption charges and accusations. The
following years paved way for a few corrupt and powerful prime ministers until 2014, where
the famous military coup took place. The years 2013 and 2014 were known as one of the

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most politically unstable time period for Thai politics (BBC, 2016). From November 2013 to
May 2014, anti-government protests took place followed by the famous military coup. The
National Council for Peace and Order took over the legislative jurisdiction of Thailand. The
Monarch King acknowledged the coup and did not respond to the militarization of the
legislative structure of Thailand, deeming an acceptance and legitimation of the coup which
is of high rank in Thailand (BBC, 2016). The following years do not show any sort of uprising
or opposition of the current political situation of Thailand.

2.3 The impact of Military Coup on Thai tourism

With the imposition of martial law, the military coup of 2014 in Thailand imposed
certain other restrictions against media and freedom of speech. There was nation-wide
curfew detaining any person without charges travelling in a group of 5 or more, detaining any
person with suspicious activity and/or resisting arrest (Ingram, Tabari and
Watthanakhomprathip, 2013). The media was heavily suppressed and monitored closely as
to ensure that there is minimal negativity and wave of public uprising building. Here,
consumer motivation is reduced to visit such nations under turmoil. There were even talks
that the civil unrest may lead to the closure of a few major airports in Thailand which could
have definitely hindered further growth of tourists that year. It was reported that tourism
dropped in Thailand during the year 2014 by approximately 6% which later picked up
towards the end of the year when tensions were much lower. Tourists began questioning the
safety and security for the leisure guests that visit the nation for tourism purposes. One of
their main concern was the guarantee that their holiday would not turn into nightmare by
unnecessary arrests or conflicts with the Thai military with regards to the curfew and martial
law imposed. There was also a sheer drop in medical tourists by an approximate 10%
whereby spas, medical facilities and surgery specialists faced a huge loss. 2014 also
suffered a five-year low in total number of tourist arrivals, bringing the number to 26.3 million
from 28 million in the year 2013 (Charles and Chambers, 2015). Furthermore, several
tourists also cancelled their vacation plans of visiting Thailand a few weeks before arrival
and switched with other popular beach holiday destinations.

Apart from direct businesses, the wholesale and local travel agents and tour
operators also demonstrated the effects of the military coup on tourism in Thailand. Their
demands diminished while the supply remained at an all-time high. Several leisure tour
providers also faced severe loss in their business. Apart from that, the economy shrivelled

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leading to various job cuts and cuts in wages. This, in a ripple effect, reduced the service
standards of the employees as they lost motivation during work (Kummong and Supratid,
2016). Therefore, the employees who visited the country during the political crisis reviewed
negatively about the hotels where they resided claiming that the service standards had
dropped. In addition, political instability also created havoc for business owners, leading
them to be less impolite and damage the image of Thailand being the “Land of Smiles”. The
socio-economic situation also worsened. Several tourists would reside in small hotels and
resorts that are constructed within the societies and other residences. These tourists claimed
that most of the neighbourhoods would be empty since the local residents have left for their
home town and there was less social interaction for them. Several Chamber of Commerce
declared travel warnings to their nations with regards to the political crisis. Once the media
began circulating such information, the consumer behaviour towards travelling to Thailand
for tourism changed. This further enraged the locals who relied solely on the tourism industry
for their day to day earnings. Various peace protests sparked across the nation yet the
image for tourism in Thailand was opaque (Kummong and Supratid, 2016). The locals
continued their daily businesses with the hopes that the handful tourist arrivals would provide
them their daily bread.

The military coup of 2014 did not impact the Thai tourism drastically as towards the
end of the year, the arrivals began picking up and the year that followed showed positive
influx of tourists at most of the destinations famous for sight-seeing and tourism. Tourists
began exploring major cities that had curfew warnings back in May 2014 and also
photographed themselves with the Thai military personnel who were patrolling the area
(Ingram, Tabari and Watthanakhomprathip, 2013). These images circulated and illustrated
that the political and social tensions were much lower than expected, perhaps, leading to the
influx of tourists. Furthermore, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) began excessively
funding a viral campaign to drive tourism back to the country. This was backed by numerous
hotels and resorts within a specified region joining tradeshows, road shows and conventions
to display their properties and the removal of all the sanctions imposed by the military leader
on the streets of Thailand.

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 UNIT 3 – METHODOLOGY

3.1 Ideology

For the researcher to accumulate concrete evidence with regards to the research
topic of impact of political crisis on Thai tourism, he aimed towards gathering a mix of both
primary and secondary sources of credible information that could help towards the
achievement of the aim. The primary source of information was through surveying the
general public of Thailand who work in fields relevant to the hospitality industry and have
been in this business for a minimum of 3 years from 2012 to 2015. In terms of secondary
sources of information, the researcher focused on journal articles, reliable news articles and
even certain websites that illustrated the information transparently. Both qualitative and
quantitative means of information was gathered with the former being through web articles
and news media articles that are reliable while the latter being through surveys. The
research philosophy is pragmatism as the research depends upon surveying the past and
has a fixed response that would not change regardless of countless researches conducted in
the future. The researcher emphasized on deductive research as he began formulating
evidence from news articles to come to a final conclusion about the impact.

3.2 The Survey

The survey constitutes of a series of questions that discussed about the reviews and
opinions of Thai locals who could express their opinion about the impact of political crisis
upon the tourism industry of Thailand. The survey was distributed to the friends, family and
local residents of Phuket’s Muang district where the researcher lives and only targeted the
group of people conducting their own business. Questions ranged from open ended to
dichotomous and a rating scale question. It also had several multiple-choice questions that
initiated the discussions about how drastic were the effects.

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3.3 Sampling Technique

The survey was delivered by the researcher in Phuket when he was away from a trip.
He collected them on the spot and generally filled them out as most of the locals were not
able to read or write fluent English. The sampling was self-selected and very targeted as the
researcher surveyed the locals who conduct their business and have been working for a
minimum three years having conducted business through the military coup of 2014. The age
group ranged from mainly 25 to 65 and above whereas the total number of participants were
30. Roughly 60% of the participants were females while the remaining were males.

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 UNIT 4 – RESULTS & ANALYSIS

4.1 The Demographics

The table below, table 4.1, illustrates the number of people who took part in the
survey and breaks them down on the basis on nationality, gender and even age group. 30
participants consisted of the sampling group of which 60% were females and 40% were
males. Of the short age group, more than 50% of the participants who owned their business
were between the age group 37 – 55. 10% each belonged to either under 25 or above 55
and the remaining were between 25 – 36.

AGE GROUP GENDER

Under 25 3 Male 12

25-36 8

37-55 16 Female 18

55+ 3

Table 4.1a – The Demographics of the surveyors

4.2 The impact of political instability upon tourism

The table 4.2a illustrates the opinion of the participants with regards to the impact of
political instability on tourism in general. They were questioned by the researcher to express
their belief in either of the four choices. 50% of the participants confirmed that political
instability does impact tourism while a surprising 30% assured that the influence in either
minimal or none whatsoever. Furthermore, in a dichotomous question, more than 75% of the
participants confirmed that political instability leads to civil unrest.

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Table 4.2b showcases the opinion of the participants when discussing the influence of
government funding towards the promotion of tourism. The majority of the participants
believe that government aid towards the promotion of the touristic destinations would
definitely improve the number of tourist influx in Thailand. Shockingly, roughly 36% of the
participants also believe that the effect is minimal or not at all.

These findings go hand in hand with the author Morales (2011), where he mentions the
adverse effects of political instability upon tourism.

Does political instability impact tourism

12
10
10
Number of participants

6
5
4
4
3 3
2 2
2
1

0
Yes No Not sure Minimal influence
Opinion regarding impact

Male Female
Tab
le 4.2a – Opinion of surveyors regarding impact of political instability upon tourism

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 Impact of government funding towards tourism promotion
12
10
10
Number of participants

8
7

6
5

4
3
2
2
1 1 1

0
Highly effective Not effective at all Negligible effect Sufficient effect
Effetiveness of government promotion

Male Female
Tab
le 4.2b – Opinion of surveyors regarding impact of government funding towards the
promotion of tourism

4.3 Political situation of Thailand

In the chart below, the surveyors illustrate their views about the current situation of
Thailand’s political government. 60% of the participants agree to the fact that the current
political situation is under control and stable, however, merely 20% of them also believe that
Thailand is near yet another crisis that may strike civil unrest or even lead to the destruction
of Thailand’s image as a tourism destination. Furthermore, an open ended question stated
that the future of Thai politics seems to be vague as there is quite some amount of
corruption and the civilians demand more transparency which was not seen.

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 Current situation of Thai politics
12
10
10
Number of participants

8
8

6
4
4
2 2 2
2
1 1

0
Stable Unstable Can be dissolved Near another crisis
Political situation of Thailand

Male Female
Tab
le 4.3a – Opinion of surveyors regarding Thailand’s political situation

4.4 Impact of 2014 military coup on Thai tourism

Table 4.4a shows a rating grid of the impact of military coup of 2014 upon certain
factors of Thailand. The participants rate from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most positive effect
while 1 being negative impact and/or effect. Civil unrest scored the lowest rating stating that
there was a high amount of upheaval amongst the civilians when the coup took place that
destroyed the social image of the nation. Astonishingly, tourism in Thailand shared its rating
with the impact on local businesses with both of them scoring a rating of 2.06. This clearly
states that the military did have an adverse impact upon the image of Thailand as a tourist
destination following the military coup. Apart from that, tourist arrivals and the safety &
security of tourists’ factors achieved the highest rating of 2.77 and 2.76 respectively. This
confirms that despite there was some negative influence of the military coup, tourist arrivals
and their security did not dwindle completely. The analysis of the survey for this very subject
goes hand in hand with the claims of the authors Kummong and Supratid (2016) who stated
that despite receiving negative publicity of Thai tourism after the military coup of 2014, the
influx of tourists fell in small proportions and picked up towards the end of the year.

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 Impact of Military coup on Thailand
3 2.77 2.76
2.5 2.56
2.5
2.06 2.06
2 1.76

1.5
Rating

0.5

0
Tourism in Civil unrest Tourist Safety & Economy of Fundamental Local
Thailand arrivals security of Thailand rights businesses
tourists

Factors impacted by Military coup

Score
Tab
le 4.4a – Impact of military coup on various factors in Thailand

UNIT 5 - CONCLUSION

Post analysis and gathering all the information from primary and secondary sources,
the researcher concludes that the impact of political instability and the military coup of 2014
had adverse effect upon the tourism image of Thailand, however, the number of tourist
arrivals increased in a short span of time. Political instability plays an important role in the
image of a nation as a tourism hub for various nationalities. If there is a crisis or civil unrest,
the tourists feel insecure and question the security and safety procedures being applied in

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that nation for tourists. Furthermore, some tourists also visit a nation to interact with the
locals and enjoy the friendly neighbourhood. In such cases, curfews and martial law may
hinder a perfect vacation and cause inconvenience and uneasiness to communicate with the
local residents of a nation. In addition, Thailand’s political history had few bursts of time
when there was a concrete democracy but it never fulfilled its term of governance and was
often interrupted either with a military coup or was dissolved and had re-election. Currently,
Thailand is constitutional monarchy with separate jurisdiction being imposed for the
governance of its legislation. Despite a drop of merely 6% in tourist arrivals in 2014 due to
the military coup, Thailand’s reputation recovered quickly and they say an influx of tourists
during the next few months bouncing back into the rhythm that was created for a progressive
growth. All of the aims and objectives of this research report were achieved and there were a
few limitations from the researcher’s point of view. Firstly, since the researcher had to
complete this project within a specified amount of time, he was not able to conduct an in-
depth analysis of the topic. Furthermore, only 30 surveyors were chosen for this thesis which
was a very small sampling as the researcher did not have enough time. He also surveyed
the group based in his hometown due to shortage of time. Therefore, the researcher would
like to conduct research in the future on the same topic as he is curios to understand further
implications and influence of such an overthrow in political governance upon the tourism
industry of Thailand.

UNIT 6 - REFERENCES

BBC, (2016). Thailand profile – timeline [Online]. Available from:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-15641745. (Accessed on 13 July 2016)

BLOOMBERG, (2016). How much did Thailand military coup impact GDP [Online]. Available
from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-02-16/how-much-did-thailand-s-military-
coup-impact-gdp-. (Accessed on 11 July 2016)

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CHARLES, E.T.A., and CHAMBERS, D., (2015). The Salience of Tourism in Politics, in
Donna Chambers , Tijana Rakić. Tourism Research Frontiers: Beyond the Boundaries of
Knowledge, 20 (1), pp.87 – 104

ERAWAN, T., KRAIRIT, D., and KHANG, D.B., (2011). Tourists' external information search
behavior model: the case of Thailand. Journal of Modelling in Management, 6(3), pp.297 –
316

INGRAM, H., TABARI, S., and WATTHANAKHOMPRATHIP, W., (2013). The impact of
political instability on tourism: case of Thailand. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes,
5(1), pp.92 – 103

KUMMONG, R., and SUPRATID, S., (2016). Thailand tourism forecasting based on a hybrid
of discrete wavelet decomposition and NARX neural network. Industrial Management & Data
Systems, 116(6), pp.1242 – 1258

MIHALIC, T., and ARAMBERRI, J., (2015). Myths of top tourism countries, tourism
contribution and competitiveness. Tourism Review, 70(4), pp.276 – 288

MORALES, R.R., et. al., (2011). Modelling investment in the tourism industry using the
World Bank's good governance indicators. Journal of Modelling in Management, 6(3),
pp.279 – 296

PORANANOND, P., (2015). Tourism and the transformation of ritual practice with sand
pagodas in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Tourism Review, 70(3), pp.165 – 178

VANHALEWEYK G., (2016). Tourism Statistics Thailand 2000-2016 [Online]. Available from:
http://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourism.asp. (Accessed on 10 July 2016).

UNIT 7 – APPENDIX

7.1 Survey

Greetings, my name is Sirawit Prayote of Business and Hospitality Management School

based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Currently I am conducting a research regarding the impact of

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political instability and the military coup of 2014 upon tourism industry of Thailand and I
would kindly request you to fill out the following information. The answers and other personal
data from this survey will be kept confidential and used for scholastic purposes only.

Questionnaire

The impact of political crisis upon the tourism industry of Thailand

Name: Age:

Sex:

Nationality: American African European Asian Other

1) Do you believe that politicalinstability can cause a negative impact on the tourism
industry?

a. Yes b. No c. Not sure d. Minimal influence

2) With the increase in political tensions, are there any chances of civil unrest?

a. Yes b. No

3) How effective is the impact of government promotion of tourism destinations upon the
international arrivals?

a. Highly effective b. Not effective at all c. Negligible effect d. Sufficient

4) What is the current situation of Thai politics?

a. Stable b. Unstable c. Can be dissolved d. Near another crisis

5) What is your opinion about the history of Thai politics and the future of it?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

6) Do you believe that the military coup of 2014 had an adverse effect upon the tourism
industry of Thailand?

a) Yes b) No

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7) Kindly tick the appropriate choice with regards to the impact of the military coup

Statement Profi tabl e Positive No effect Negative Destructive

effect effect effect i mpact
Tourism in 2 5 16 7
Thailand

Civil unrest 6 11 13

Number of 8 7 13 2
tourist arrivals
Safety and 9 10 6 5
security of
tourists

Economy of 5 10 10 5
Thailand

Fundament al 6 9 11 4
rights

Local 8 16 6
businesses

Thank you very much for your time and participation

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