Shooting in center of Bangkok posts risks to Thailand governmental stability, tourism, and economy

The dreadful shooting incident that happened yesterday at Siam paragon shopping mall, located in the center of Bangkok, Thailand, has sent a signal of risks threatening Thailand’s governmental stability, tourism, and economy.

The shooting resulted in two foreigners killed, one Chinese, one Burmese, and five people were injured.

Local shoppers and foreigners are still in fright and they have been expressing their concerns over the country’s law of gun ownership and safety protection in general.

On social media, people urged the government to invest in developing the SMS emergency alert technology for Thai citizens and tourists and strengthening control about gun ownership laws and legal punishments for criminals under the age of eighteen years old.

When reporters asked prime minister Srettha Thavisin, he said more time and detail will be needed for the government to focus on the alert system.

AP News and Reuters interviewed international foreigners who were at the crime scene after they rushingly fled out of the mall.

According to AP News, a male foreign tourist said when the shooting started, he and his family were inside Siam paragon, shopping. Then, he heard people’s screaming and many were running wildly. At first, things looked so chaotic, though he also heard gunshots.

The tourist added that the rescue operation was quite slow and confusing as it took about one to two hours for ambulances to arrive after the incident happened.

26-year-old Shir Yahav from Israel told Reuters that “It happened in just a few minutes. We saw all the people run, run, run, we didn’t understand what was happening,..”

She said while the incident happened, she was in a designer store. “We heard several shots, like six or seven shots,” before she was helped by the shop’ sellers to find a place to hide in the back for about two hours.

In addition, several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter and other social platforms are now flooding with opinions of Thai people and foreigners, saying things like “Thailand is not safe to be or come to travel anymore.”

This post is a snap of comments written in Chinese on a Chinese’s social platform captured by an X’s user. Definitely, it is too soon to conclude anything, but would this be a sign that this shooting incident can jeopardize Thailand’s government efforts to boost tourism, among international tourists, especially of China’s travelers and grow the overall economy?

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