DESPITE COUPS, floods and mass protests, visitors have flocked to Thailand in recent decades. Almost 40m of them arrived last year to blister on its beaches and dance in its discos. But as the globe shuts down because of covid-19 and holidaymak-ers stay at home, the land of smiles feels glum. Travel and tourism, broadly defined, were worth more than 3.5trn baht ($109bn) in 2018, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, equivalent to about 20% of the country's gdp. The Kasikorn Research Centre, a Thai outfit which conducts economic analysis, estimates that if the covid-19 pandemic lasts into September, Thailand's losses will amount to 4oobn baht($12.1bn).
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