If you want to know why the hotels are full, anything tourism related buzzing – just look at ERW, CENTEL, MINT, AOT, AAV. As a result of the continuing issues surrounding N. Korea, Chinese tourists are avoiding S. Korea and making their way to other parts in the region/world, and Thailand being the land of smiles that it is, is happily benefiting from this.

“South Korea didn’t make the top 20 destinations for the more than 6 million Ctrip users traveling abroad over the “golden week” holiday, after ranking No. 1 during the same period last year, the company said. Thailand rose from the No. 2 spot to become this year’s top destination for the Ctrip’s roughly 300 million users.

About one-fifth of outbound Chinese travelers were visiting Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai, the company said. Japan and Singapore were the most popular destinations after Thailand. “

Source: Bloomberg

Now here’s the question – when the N. Korea issued subsides how will tourism #’s and related businesses fair in the short term?