News Roundup

I have three posts I want to write, but I’ll summarize them into one post. Incidentally, they all peripherally relate to what I expect will be a plummet in tourist travel in Asia, although only the last of three paragraphs directly notes that.

– Militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked tourist targets in India’s commercial capital Mumbai. The attackers were are [the attack is ongoing] young South Asian men speaking Hindi or Urdu, suggesting domestic terrorists, not foreigners. The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen, which may be a offshoot or cell of the Indian Mujahideen. The Mumbai attacks also focused clearly on tourist targets, including two luxury hotels and a famous cafe. Witnesses say the attackers are singling out Americans and Britons in their attacks. What makes this incident different is the brazen, military-style assault gunmen on soft targets. Typical terrorist attacks are bombings or spectacular displays such as 9/11.

- How is the global downturn affecting China? The media is bearish, with articles on the topic here and here. In sum, the outlook is bleak. With a heavily manufacturing-centric, export-driven economy that is headed for an inevitable downtown, 2008 has been full of bad news, and 2009 promises to be worse. My interest is the impact this will have on politics, goverment, and civil society. Which ultimately brings us to class relations. Until now many of the nouveau riche have lived lives immune from the whims of the administrative and legal system, enjoying lavish luxuries unknown to the vast majority of the population. The practical gap between rich and poor was tremendous. Are those fat and happy days over?

- Both of Thailand’s airports have been shutdown after both were overrun by anti-government protesters. Bangkok is now completely cut off from air traffic. The anti-government protester alliance are declaring victory and say they will remain in control of the airport until Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat steps down. What with this, combined with bombs going off in Bangkok, and the certainty of images of tourists stranded at the airport, combined with the drop in Asian tourism and the worldwide economic slowdown, Thailand’s tourist industry may have been dealt a mortal blow. During the bloodless coup of a year ago, various tourism published pictures of stranded tourists smiling for the cameras trying to reassure the world that everything was just fine. There were still double digit declines in visitation in the months to follow. Phuket and some other far-flung tourist areas are the only ones that may survive the inevitable collapse of the tourism sector.