UPDATE
Phuket people are being called out next Sunday to rally in the Phuket City park alongside the TAT offices in opposition to the Amnesty Bill. About 5000 turned out last Sunday in a similar rally.
Original Report
PHUKET: No cancellations have been made to Phuket resort bookings because of the Amnesty Bill protest, Suchart Hirankskkun, president of the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Division) said today.
''There has been no violence, Bangkok is 900 kilometres north of Phuket and flights come directly to Phuket,'' he said today. Low-level warnings have been made in travel advisories by Britain, France, Japan and Sweden.
Khun Suchart said that travel agencies in Scandinavia had telephoned for an assessment of the scale of the issue.
''I don't foresee any problems,'' Khun Suchart said. ''It's a peaceful protest with no sign of police or the army on the streets.''
In previous political clashes and during the occupation of Bangkok's airports, Phuket became a ''safe haven'' for travellers. The three-day occupation of Phuket airport as a prelude in 2008 to the occupation of the Bangkok airports was extremely unlikely to happen again, Khun Suchart said.
Even some groups in so-called ''red'' heartland provinces are now coming out against the Amnesty Bill, which grants pardons to thousands of corrupt officials and opens the door to the return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The issue has damaged the support base of both Khun Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, the present Prime Minister, who has now distanced herself from the bill. She says the proposed new law was about forgiveness, and that many other countries have used amnesties to heal deep national divisions.
With about 30,000 or more protesters camped on the streets of Bangkok, Khun Yingluck has chosen to go to Pattaya today to visit the survivors of a ferry crash that killed six day-trippers at the weekend.
In Bangkok, the protesters say the government has the option of sitting on the bill for six months if the Senate rejects it on Monday, as seems likely.
At that point, the bill could then be submitted directly to the Prime Minister and then taken directly to HM The King for approval.
If the protesters are still on the streets in six months, as they say they plan to be, that would seem an unwise option.
