Once-Bustling with Foreign Tourists Bangkok Now a Ghost Town

Hotels are shuttered in the dark, bars are closed and empty food carts are seen around Bangkok’s once-bustling with foreign tourists. The silence shrouds the city’s party land despite the easing COVID-19 lockdown measures.

“Bangkok at night is deserted as never before. I can’t believe it is a tourist haven where I’ve been living all my life. It’s almost a ghost town,” said local resident Anan who lives near Sukhumvit 24. An area home to starred hotels, large shopping malls, high-end and popular restaurants in central Bangkok.

Thailand has recorded no local transmission of COVID-19 for 35 consecutive days with all of the recorded infections being Thais returning from abroad.

Although the curfew imposed since April to contain coronavirus has been lifted and most businesses are allowed to open, most of them kept their doors closed.

“I sat around here the whole day. You’re the second visitor to the shop. Foreigners are major visitors here, but now we could hardly see them,” Apple, a masseuse in downtown Bangkok, told Xinhua.

“I got only 30 percent of my normal earnings, which could barely afford meals, but better than nothing,” said the 45-year-old with two children under 10.

 

Source: Once-Bustling with Foreign Tourists Bangkok Now a Ghost Town

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