BANGKOK – The Tourism Authority of Thailand has called on foreign journalists to stop projecting a negative image of Thailand by exaggerating the situation in the country, claiming that several news outlets have overblown the destruction in the city by reporting that 38 buildings have been torched by arsonists.
“The correct figure is 36, plus 2 vendor carts,” said TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni. “This is typical of the foreign media which loves to sensationalize events in the country.”
The TAT Governor also clarified that 83 people had been shot to death, not 84 as claimed by the BBC.
“One person died of a heart attack at the protest site during a gun battle. She was not shot at all. The BBC should really get their facts right before reporting them to the world.”
The governor also took issue with the constant stream of negative images taken by photojournalists.
“There are many parts of the city, namely in the upper Sukhumvit area, that continue to thrive and demonstrate the peaceful Thai way of life and culture. Why must they always focus on the 50% of the city that has been paralysed or destroyed, or where residents live in fear for their lives as they fall asleep to the rat-tat-tat of sniper gunfire?”
Asked about the abundance of troops in the city and how that looked to the rest of the world, he replied indignantly, “Every country in the world has problems. Every country. Soldiers killing their own people is not unique to Thailand. Please. And neither is a massive prostitution industry, for that matter. Every country has prostitutes everywhere and soldiers shooting bullets at its own people.”
Questioned about the damage caused by the fact that four tourists had been cut down in the crossfire since early April, Suraphon replied, “Hundreds of tourists are either injured or die in travel to the Kingdom every year. This is only a tiny percentage of the millions of visitors who enjoy Thailand and live to tell the story.”
