BANGKOK — The tuk tuk drivers outside the Holiday Inn in Bangkok's still-dry downtown sit idle, calling to passers-by in hopes that someone, anyone will climb in for a ride in their colorful pedicabs. Fares are hard to come by as the floodwaters creeping ever deeper into the Thai capital have washed the streets of tourists.
Trying times like these are nothing new for those in Thailand's all important tourism industry, and with each new calamity come dire predictions that the kingdom's image and its allure to foreign tourists may be irreparably harmed. But each time it recovers and its beaches, jungles, spas and urban malls are soon swarming with visitors again. [ Read more ]