Seldom has a year gone by over the past decade when Thailand's tourism industry hasn't faced a major issue that has threatened to have a dramatically negative impact. From the ongoing and seemingly never-ending political problems, SARS and bird flu, the Bangkok floods and the airport closure to name just a few, the industry has proven itself to be resilient and always seems to bounce back quickly. The Erawan Shrine bomb attack this week took things to a new level with the loss of 20 lives, amongst them foreign visitors. The challenges of the past have often been the fear of the unknown. Could you find yourself stuck in Thailand and unable to fly home because the airport was closed? Would you be unable to do anything or go anywhere because the city was flooded? In the past it has always been a case of the unknown, and not knowing what might happen. This time around the bad shit has happened already. Here's hoping it's a single event - an horrific event - but a one-off. In the short-term one would expect a drop in visitor numbers, even if there have not been reports of widespread cancellations so far, which is encouraging.