Video footage of a Chinese tourist being hit by an airport guard in Thailand has sparked a flurry of apologies and vows to take motion as the federal government moves to do damage control over the incident.
China is Thailand’s largest source of tourists, accounting for a few quarter of its 35 million annual visitors.
But a ship disaster on the favored island of Phuket in July that killed dozens of Chinese vacationers caused a drop in visits and put Thailand on alert for problems that would impact the market.
A Sept. 27 clip at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, showing a guard briefly scuffling with a person after which punching him, landed on this category and quickly sparked a response from a few of the highest levels of presidency.
Government spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said on Sunday that Prime Minister and junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha was “upset” by the incident.
“The Prime Minister believed that although the tourist couldn’t present documents confirming his accommodation in Thailand, refused to stay in custody and behaved inappropriately towards officials, officials still had to regulate themselves and treat him in accordance with international practice,” he added. Sunsern said in a message to reporters.
We cannot deny responsibility for this shortcoming, for which I regret and apologize to the Chinese tourist
He added that two senior airport employees have been suspended and the guard will eventually be fired.
One of the staff, Suthirawat Suwannarat, who’s the airport’s general manager, was suspended for 30 days.
“We cannot deny responsibility for this shortcoming, which I regret and apologize to the Chinese tourist,” he told reporters on Saturday. “While we have the right to defend ourselves, in this case it was not reasonable to do so.”
Airport authorities said the tourist was identified as Mei Ji and arrived by plane from Jakarta. He added that he refused to attend within the room.
He was later deported, however the encounter was filmed on cell phones and uploaded to the Internet.
Thailand’s quick response highlights continuing sensitivity to the Phuket disaster, which killed nearly 50 people.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports estimated that the boat tragedy would have left greater than half 1,000,000 Chinese tourists offended and scared.
According to government statistics in August, about 860,000 of the three.2 million tourists who visited Thailand were Chinese. The figures show an almost 12 percent decline in Chinese visits in comparison with the identical period last yr.
