Thailand: Government makes desperate offer in bid to revive tourism
The Thai government has taken the outrageous step of promising any tourist who catches Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) while visiting the country, that it will pay them $100,000.
According to the Financial Times, the country’s authorities are desperate to revive the tourist trade after it was decimated by the onset of the disease. In April, arrivals at Bangkok international airport were down 46 per cent and projections for May are no better. It is several weeks since the country was declared a “SARS-free zone” and only reported eight cases of the disease, which authorities say were almost certainly contracted in other countries.
The FT says Thai Airways had already guaranteed a payment of $100,000 to anyone who could prove they were infected on one of its flights. The country’s tourism minister Sontaya Kunploem said: “We are ready to make the payment to boost the confidence of tourists who come to Thailand.”
