The Department of Special Investigation has submitted to the Criminal Court a report detailing the economic impact of the recent political turmoil to support its case against red-shirt leaders charged with terrorism and inciting unrest, DSI director-general Tharit Pengdit said yesterday.
These included impacts on tourism, businesses in the protest areas and their employees, small-time vendors and local residents, tour agents, airlines and mass transit operators, the financial sector and the money market, and the country's credibility.
The protests and the subsequent violence deterred prospective tourists, after warnings by 52 countries advising their nationals against coming to Thailand, according to the NESDB report. Nine countries still retain that warning three months after the unrest.
As a result, the country's tourism earnings this year were estimated to have fallen by Bt18.75 billion from the original target of Bt600 billion, the report said. The number of tourists for the entire year was estimated at 15.5 million, about 500,000 below the original target.
According to the NESDB report, five hotels in the Rajprasong shopping area had to close for business during the red-shirt protests. Also affected were five shopping malls, 10 medium-sized retail stores, and more than 2,000 small-time vendors. About 800 employees of the affected businesses lost their jobs, and the government spent more than Bt400 million to help them along with more than 30,000 other employees affected by the unrest.
The hotels and shopping malls suffered combined damage of more than Bt2 billion to their properties, some of them destroyed, by fires started by rioters.
The total damage to 2,951 small-time vendors and Bangkok residents who registered with the government was valued at Bt3.4 billion.
Eighty-eight flights were cancelled during the Songkran festival in April and the loss was estimated at Bt600 million.
The report said the stock market index was down 7 per cent after the state of emergency was imposed in early April. The stock market was forced to close for two days after the riots and the index fell to a record low of 720 points a few days later. The country's credibility rating was reduced after the political unrest, from A+ to A.
Rights and Liberties Protection Department deputy director-general Pasit Asavawattanaporn said holders of 1,005 insurance policies had complained that insurance companies declined to pay compensation of Bt198 billion sought for the damage from the unrest.