Transcription
[Music] This country, right here in the heart of Southeast Asia, is Thailand. It's smaller than the state of Texas, but somehow, it's one of the most visited countries on Earth. In 2024 alone, more than 35 million tourists visited the kingdom, which is Thailand's official title, since it's one of the few remaining constitutional monarchies in Asia. Together, they brought in over 50 billion US in revenue.
Bangkok alone often tops global rankings as the world's most visited city, bidding out heavyweights like London, Paris, and Dubai in prepandemic years. But what if I told you that Thailand's real tourism economy might actually be worth far more than that $50 billion figure? Our research suggests that there are massive money flows that never show up in official statistics, and together, they could easily double that number. And yeah, I know what you might be thinking right now, but this isn't just about sex tourism, even though that's definitely a part of the story we'll explore later.
You see, what we found suggests Thailand has developed something remarkable: a multi-layered economic ecosystem that goes far beyond a typical tourist experience. There is the Thailand you see in travel brochures: the temples, beaches, and street food. But there are also the Thailands that operate in economic gray zones, generating substantial wealth through activities that exist alongside, and sometimes intertwined with, the official tourism industry.
But before we dive into these parallel economies, we need to understand how Thailand became the world's tourism powerhouse in the first place. Because the story of Thailand's rise from 80,000 visitors in 1960 to 35 million today involves Cold War politics, brilliant marketing strategies, and some unexpected historical events that created the foundation for everything that followed. So, how did Thailand systematically engineer its transformation from a relatively unknown Southeast Asian country into one of the world's most visited destinations? And how did that success create the conditions for the complex economic ecosystem we see today? Let's find out.
What if Thailand's transformation into the world's tourism powerhouse didn't happen by accident? The truth is, it's the result of a mix of historical luck, strategic thinking, and some of the boldest rebranding campaigns ever attempted. And oddly enough, the story begins with a Thai general on medical observation in a Washington D.C. hospital.
In 1958, Sarit Thanarat, a military ruler who had just led a coup in Thailand, was sent to Walter Reed Hospital, reportedly for exhaustion and health issues. While most in his position would focus on recovery, Sarit spent his time absorbing America's bold approach to tourism and economic development. Historians note that his exposure to U.S. tourism promotion and modernization strategies left a strong impression. When he returned to Thailand and formally took office as prime minister, Sarit set out to make tourism a pillar of Thailand's new development vision. In 1960, Sarit Thanarat established the Tourism Organization of Thailand, the country's first agency dedicated to tourism promotion, which eventually became the Tourism Authority of Thailand, or TAT.
Just as Sarit was laying the foundation for Thailand's tourism industry, history handed him an unexpected gift: the Vietnam War. What most people don't realize is that Thailand's modern tourism infrastructure was built on American military spending. Between 1962 and 1976, 50,000 American troops were stationed in Thailand fighting the Vietnam War. But crucially, 700,000 additional servicemen visited Thailand on official R&R, or rest and recuperation, leave, basically taking a break from combat in Vietnam.
Soldiers could pick destinations like Hawaii, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, or Singapore. And most chose Bangkok. Why? Well, it was close to Vietnam, affordable, and it offered exactly what exhausted soldiers wanted: good food, comfortable hotels, and plenty of entertainment. These weren't ordinary tourists. They were young men spending their combat pay on one week of freedom. And the economic impact was enormous. R&R military personnel spent double what regular visitors did, accounting for 11 to 16% of all visitors during 1966 to 1967. In 1960, Thailand had only around 80,000 foreign visitors. By 1969, that number had jumped nearly 10-fold, and tourism revenue grew more than 650% in less than a decade.
But here's the genius part. While other countries saw American military bases as temporary wartime necessities, Thailand saw permanent economic opportunity. Seven major air bases were constructed, creating infrastructure that would later become civilian airports. Bangkok's American strip on Phetchaburi Road grew out of swampland rice fields and fruit orchards specifically to serve American servicemen. When the Americans left, this infrastructure didn't disappear. It transformed. Districts near former U.S. bases currently have five times more commercial establishments than areas near unused Thai military bases, showing how systematically Thailand converted military tourism into civilian tourism. Basically, Thailand used the war to build a tourism machine that would outlast the war itself.
And this became a pattern. Every crisis turned into an opportunity. Take the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Thailand's economy collapsed, and facing economic devastation, Thailand launched the "Amazing Thailand" campaign. Originally planned as a two-year crisis response, it was so successful that it became permanent. The devalued Thai currency made Thailand incredibly affordable for foreign visitors. Suddenly, Thailand wasn't just cheap; it was amazing value at a time when travelers were budget-conscious.
The results were immediate. American Express and Visa both reported surges in spending by card members visiting Thailand during the first three months of 1998. By working directly with credit card companies, Thailand tapped into mailing lists of frequent travelers and reached millions of potential visitors directly, which is a level of marketing sophistication few developing nations could dream of at the time.
But "Amazing Thailand" wasn't just about price. It deliberately repositioned the country from a mass-market destination to a diverse premium experience, promoting nine key themes: shopping, food, culture, ecotourism, adventure, travel, health, arts and crafts, historical sites, and natural wonders.
While the Thai government was building infrastructure and marketing campaigns, private entrepreneurs were creating cultural ambassadors. The most successful was an American named Jim Thompson, who single-handedly transformed Thai silk from a dying cottage industry into a global luxury brand. After World War II, Jim Thompson, a former American intelligence officer, arrived in Thailand in 1948 and became fascinated by the country's traditional silk craft. While exploring rural communities, he discovered that families, many from the ethnic Cham Muslim minority, were preserving age-old silk weaving technologies at home. Instead of moving production to a centralized factory, Thompson encouraged his women to continue weaving at home, guaranteeing them steady income and helping preserve their traditional way of life.
The breakthrough came in 1951 when Thompson silk was featured in the Broadway production of "The King and I." Thai silk soon gained international recognition in Vogue magazine, and by 1960, even Queen Sirikit was seen wearing Jim Thompson silk at a gala concert in the U.S. Thompson understood that cultural exports drive tourism interest. Every piece of Thai silk sold internationally created curiosity about its origins. Every magazine feature created potential visitors. Thompson's house in Bangkok became a tourist attraction itself, showcasing how traditional Thai architecture could appeal to Western aesthetics.
Then came the mystery that made him a legend. Thompson mysteriously disappeared, literally vanishing without a trace when he went for a walk in Malaysia's Cameron Highlands in 1967. He was never seen again. The search was massive. Over 5,000 people searched for 11 days, including Malaysian police, Thai police, British Army volunteers, and even U.S. Army observers. It became one of the largest land searches for an individual in Southeast Asian history. They found absolutely nothing: no body, no personal items, no trace whatsoever. According to experts, the most probable theory is that he got lost and died in the jungle, but nobody knows for sure.
Anyway, the company survived his disappearance, and under new management, grew to 36 retail outlets in Thailand and operations in over 40 countries globally, generating over $90 million in sales. More importantly, Thompson's original vision established a template for Thailand's soft power strategy.
From Sarit's hospital epiphany to the Vietnam War boom, to the "Amazing Thailand" rebrand, and even cultural ambassadors like Jim Thompson, one thing is clear: Thailand never left its future to chance. It systematically turned accidents into strategy and crisis into opportunity. And that's why, by the 1990s, Thailand had become the hub of Southeast Asia, with airports, hotels, and a global brand to match.
But here's the part most people miss. This systematic approach to tourism success created something unexpected. Because once you build an economic machine this sophisticated, it doesn't just serve the customers you originally intended. The infrastructure, networks, and relationships built for legitimate tourism also became the foundation for parallel economic activities. Let's take a closer look at what those parallel activities are.
One parallel economic activity that doesn't show up in official tourism stats involves tourists who don't visit temples or beaches at all. Instead, they're wealthy foreigners using legal loopholes to set up companies, buy property, and quietly park money in Thailand. This form of investment tourism brings in an estimated $10 to $15 billion dollars every year.
But here's something interesting. Under Thai law, foreigners cannot own land, and they also cannot hold a majority share in companies across many industries. That's because the Foreign Business Act of 1999 caps foreign ownership in most Thai companies at 49%. So, how do you actually buy land or start a company in Thailand if you're a foreigner? The solution that emerged was the so-called nominee company. It's essentially a legal shell that gives the appearance of Thai ownership while allowing foreign investors to retain real control.
Here's how it works: A foreign investor sets up a Thai company. 51% of the shares are held by Thai nominees: locals whose names are on paper but who don't really put in any money or make decisions. The foreigner, with 49% of the shares, provides all the funding, holds the real control through private side agreements, and then the company buys the property. But how do you even find these nominees? Simple. Thai law firms maintain databases of willing Thai nationals, often employees, relatives, or people who get paid a small annual fee, typically $30 to $150, just to have their name on documents.
Professional service providers have turned this into an assembly line process. You walk into certain law firms in Bangkok or Phuket, and they'll quote you a flat fee of $15,000 to $50,000 for a complete foreign ownership solution. This includes company registration, nominee recruitment, legal documentation, and ongoing compliance services. Some firms even offer VIP packages that include airport pickup, hotel accommodation, property tours, legal services, and nominee company setup, all for $25,000 to $100,000, depending on the transaction size.
Technically, this is all illegal under Thai law, but it's an open secret. Entire industries – law firms, accountants, real estate agents – exist to set these structures up. And we're not talking about a few villas here and there. Thailand's Department of Business Development has identified over 46,000 companies suspected of nominee shareholding arrangements. In one recent review, 852 companies were found in direct violation of the law, with total damages estimated at 15 billion baht, or roughly $430 million U.S. Yet, despite these investigations and over a thousand reported cases since 1999, virtually none have resulted in criminal convictions. So, basically, it's a shell game that the Thai government pretends to police but never really shuts down.
And this shadow system went into overdrive after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As Western sanctions cut Russian banks off the global financial system, Thailand, especially Phuket, saw an unexpected influx of wealthy Russian buyers seeking to move capital abroad. Before the war, Russians made up roughly 10 to 15% of property buyers in the region. By 2024, they accounted for anywhere between 40 to 60% of new property purchases in certain luxury developments.
But what made this surge even more interesting was the method of payment. With conventional banking channels restricted, many Russians turned to cryptocurrency to move funds into Thailand's real estate market. Here's how it typically worked: Russians would convert rubles into Bitcoin, transfer crypto to Thai exchanges, convert to Thai baht, and use nominee companies to purchase properties. Some operations involved gold shop laundering, where crypto was converted to baht, used to buy gold from complicit dealers, and then the gold was resold for clean baht that could buy real estate. Even Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister openly acknowledged the system, stating that Russians fleeing the war could use Bitcoin to buy houses in Phuket because traditional banking had become impossible.
The scale became so large that it affected Thailand's currency markets. Officials estimate 500 billion baht, or over $14 billion U.S., was laundered through crypto-to-baht channels in 2025 alone, with much of it flowing into real estate purchases through nominee structures. In 2025, Thailand even introduced a 5-year exemption on capital gains taxes for crypto investors to stimulate digital asset adoption, signaling that instead of fighting this trend, it was leaning into it.
Real estate developers have also gotten into the act. Some luxury developments are designed specifically for foreign ownership, with units structured as company assets rather than individual properties to facilitate nominee arrangements. So, why doesn't Thailand crack down on this? Simple: it's too profitable. Every property transaction generates taxes and fees. Thailand collects an estimated $200 to $500 million annually in direct property transaction taxes tied to these kinds of foreign purchases. The legal services industry alone is worth over $500 million yearly, providing high-value employment for thousands of Thai professionals. By conservative estimates, foreign-linked property investment from Russian to Chinese buyers contributes roughly $10 to $15 billion dollars to Thailand's economy each year, directly and indirectly supporting over 100,000 jobs in construction, legal services, and property management.
The U.S. Treasury Department now identifies Thailand as a major Russian sanctions evasion hub, with seven Thai companies sanctioned since 2024 for helping Russians evade export controls. But from Thailand's perspective, this is strategic tolerance. The Thai government keeps the restrictions on paper to show international partners like the OECD, which Thailand hopes to join, that they are improving corporate transparency and preventing money laundering. But at the same time, they avoid large-scale prosecutions that would disrupt investment flows or damage Thailand's reputation as an easy place to do business. It's not the kind of tourism you see on official statistics, but it's part of why Thailand's economy depends so heavily on foreigners.
But nominee structures are just the opening act. Thailand's most sophisticated parallel economy, the one that pioneered strategic government tolerance and taught the country how to profit from officially prohibited activities, generates even more money and employs even more people. And this is particularly true for Thailand's notorious sex tourism industry.
[Music] Here's the thing: Thailand's sex industry isn't just about tourism. It's the backbone of the country's unofficial social safety net. Prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand under the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996. This law forbids the sale and purchase of sex, public solicitation, operating brothels, and third-party management or pimping. Yes, that's actually the legal term. Sex workers themselves can be fined or detained, but the law is especially strict on establishment owners, managers, and traffickers.
Despite more than 60 years of prohibition, the industry continues to generate about $6.4 billion U.S. annually and employ between 250,000 to 300,000 people. In practice, enforcement is inconsistent, and the sex industry has evolved into a sophisticated economic ecosystem, effectively functioning as a welfare system for Thailand's poorest rural regions, especially in the northeastern Isan provinces. Studies show that more than 75% of sex workers send remittances home to support their families, and roughly 45 to 50% of their earnings flow back to agricultural communities.
When COVID-19 shut down international tourism in 2020, entire villages in northeastern Thailand faced economic collapse, not because rice farming failed, but because daughters and breadwinners working in Bangkok and Pattaya could no longer send money home. The sex industry's economic foundation lies in Thailand's deep rural-urban inequality. The northeastern Isan region, home to roughly one-third of the Thai population, has the lowest per capita income, averaging only about $180 U.S. per month. In contrast, average monthly income in Bangkok can reach around $1,000. That's like making $6 per day. More than 85% of farmers in Isan cannot meet basic living expenses from agriculture alone.
That economic pressure drives large-scale migration to urban centers, especially among young women. Research shows that women from the northeastern Isan region, especially those who are unmarried or divorced, are more likely to enter sex work, largely due to limited local job opportunities and strong pressure to financially support their families. Multiple studies and interviews in Bangkok, Pattaya, and the Northeast confirmed that sex work pays five to 10 times more than farm labor, making it one of the few viable paths for many women to escape poverty. Successful migrant sex workers can earn up to $1,600 U.S. per month, and many send home roughly 45 to 50% of their income as remittances.
These transfers are so common that more than half of rural households in the Northeast benefit from them, with families often openly acknowledging that daughters working in Bangkok's entertainment districts support the entire extended family, covering children's education, medical expenses, and even buying agricultural equipment. Economists describe this as "high price elasticity of supply," meaning that even small increases in potential earnings attract huge numbers of new workers because the only alternative is rural poverty. Over time, many villages have built social networks around this migration, with successful sex workers recruiting relatives and neighbors through trusted local connections.
So, what is the Thai government actually doing about this industry when it comes to enforcement? Despite an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 active sex workers in Thailand, only about 24,000 people were arrested or fined for prostitution in 2019, roughly 10% of the industry. Systematic non-enforcement is common, as low-ranking police officers, who themselves earn only about $400 U.S. per month, routinely accept bribes from establishment owners and workers. These informal protection payments function as a form of unofficial taxation, providing supplemental income for officers who otherwise struggle to support themselves or their families.
Look, there is no denying that foreign sex tourism does represent substantial economic activity. Conservative estimates suggest that 800,000 foreign tourists visit Thailand specifically for sex tourism annually, spending an average of $5,375 each for a total of $4.3 billion U.S. This represents approximately 10% of Thailand's official tourism revenue at peak periods. But the reality is, the integration with legitimate tourism infrastructure is pretty sophisticated. Many sex workers also work in legitimate hospitality jobs – restaurants, hotels, massage parlors – during slow periods. Entertainment districts anchor broader tourism economies in cities like Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket, creating clusters of bars, restaurants, hotels, and services that serve both sex tourists and conventional tourists.
The COVID pandemic revealed the sex industry's role as economic infrastructure. When Thailand closed its borders in March 2020, international tourism collapsed by over 80%. The accommodation and food services sector, employing 2.8 million people with 63% in informal work, faced massive unemployment. Sex workers faced particular devastation because they operated in the informal economy without unemployment benefits or social security. Research in Pattaya found that sex workers experienced complete loss of income, inability to pay rent, food insecurities, and forced return to rural families. Many had to sell possessions, borrow money at high interest rates, or depend entirely on remittances from family members.
The rural impact was equally severe. Villages in northeastern Thailand that had become dependent on remittances from urban sex work faced economic crisis. Families could no longer afford children's education, medical expenses, or agricultural inputs. Some rural areas experienced reverse migration as unemployed daughters returned home, increasing pressure on already struggling agricultural communities. The government COVID relief programs largely excluded sex workers because their work is illegal. They couldn't access formal unemployment benefits, small business loans, or worker protection programs. This forced many to seek help from NGOs, religious organizations, or loan sharks, creating additional economic vulnerabilities.
But once Thailand gradually reopened to tourists in 2021 and 2022, employment in entertainment districts recovered faster than many other sectors. Rural remittance flows resumed, village economies stabilized, and urban service sectors dependent on sex industry customers began recovering.
Yet, in Thailand's poorest districts, poverty can become so desperate that a tragic undercurrent emerges. In provinces where average incomes barely cover subsistence, some families, driven by starvation and lack of alternatives, fall prey to traffickers who promise lump-sum payments of 20,000 to 50,000 baht (which is only around $600 to $1,500 U.S.) in exchange for a child's placement in the city. These intermediaries present false opportunities, often as domestic helpers or students. But once in Bangkok or Pattaya, the children are coerced into commercial sexual exploitation under threat and isolation. Though these cases represent a small fraction of the overall industry, they expose how extreme economic distress can push families to make unthinkable choices and how enforcement and prevention efforts remain grossly inadequate.
Recent enforcement statistics illustrate this approach. Thai officials investigated sex trafficking cases involving hundreds of victims and millions in illegal profits, but prosecutions remain limited. This system pioneered the regulatory approach that Thailand now applies to other parallel economies: maintain restrictive laws for international legitimacy, demonstrate periodic enforcement as political theater, but preserve economic benefits through systematic non-enforcement. The result is an unofficial social safety net that supports millions of Thailand's poorest citizens while generating billions in economic activities, all through an industry that officially doesn't even exist, but practically functions as essential economic infrastructure.
So, for decades, Thailand's tourism industry looked unstoppable. Tens of millions of visitors every year, glowing media coverage, and a booming hospitality sector that became the envy of Asia. But here in 2025, the cracks are starting to show. Before COVID, Thailand welcomed around 40 million international visitors a year. Today, it's still down by about 13% from those prepandemic highs, while Vietnam and Malaysia are back to or even above 2019 levels.
The Chinese market, once Thailand's single biggest source of visitors, still hasn't fully recovered. Arrivals remain roughly 25% below pre-COVID levels. And it's no longer about border controls. It's about how Chinese tourists now perceive Thailand as less safe, more expensive, and less appealing than before. That shift in perception didn't happen overnight. In recent years, stories of Chinese citizens being lured to Southeast Asia with fake job offers and trafficked into scam compounds in Cambodia, Laos, or Myanmar have spread widely online. Even though most of these victims were job seekers, not tourists, many of the scams were portrayed as happening through Thailand, which blurred the lines in public perception. Then came the 2023 Chinese blockbuster "No More Bets," a film dramatizing these trafficking scams and showing Chinese victims being kidnapped in Southeast Asia. It became one of China's highest-grossing movies, and its intense, realistic portrayal left a deep mark on public sentiment. So, while the average Chinese tourist isn't actually in danger of being trafficked or kidnapped, the emotional narrative of Thailand as unsafe has stuck.
But putting Chinese tourists aside, there's a common theme among global travelers: Thailand doesn't feel like a bargain anymore. Taxi overcharging and creative airport tolls are everywhere, and restaurant prices have shot up. Then there's the tourist SIM card issue. If you land in Bangkok and head straight to a telecom counter at the airport, you'll probably pay around 299 to 599 baht for a tourist SIM that lasts about 7 to 15 days. But if you walk into any 7-Eleven outside the airport, you'll find the same data plan for under 50 baht. That's like a 10 times price difference. So, why the massive gap? In 2024, Thailand introduced stricter SIM card registration rules for national security and fraud prevention reasons. As a result, tourists are not even allowed to buy the cheaper local SIMs that require a Thai ID card for registration. So, what was meant to be a cybersecurity measure ended up becoming another form of dual pricing, one that hits every single visitor before they even leave the airport.
Speaking of dual pricing, foreigners in Thailand are often charged several times more than locals at attractions, temples, and national parks. In some cases, the difference can be as high as 10-fold, like at national parks where locals pay 30 baht while foreigners pay 300. Even major landmarks like the Grand Palace let Thai citizens in for free, while foreigners have to pay 500 baht. And it doesn't stop at tourist sites. Since 2019, Thai public hospitals have been legally allowed to charge foreigners higher medical fees under a tiered system, with tourists and retirees often paying around twice what Thai citizens do for the same treatment. The Thai government has promised to address dual pricing and ensure fair treatment for tourists following public backlash. But so far, those pledges haven't led to any real change.
For most travelers, this kind of price discrimination isn't a deal-breaker, but it can still be pretty frustrating. But what about the locals? While tourists feel overcharged, many Thai working-class people are struggling just to stay afloat. The average monthly income in Thailand is still only around $450 to $500 U.S., according to official data from the National Statistics Office, and real wages have barely moved in years. In rural areas, especially in the north and northeastern regions like Isan, people earn significantly less than that. So, when foreigners flood in, buying condos or paying premium prices for food and services, it inevitably drives up the cost of living without raising local income. So, you can see how this creates resentment on both sides. Tourists feel exploited, while locals feel left behind in their own country. And that tension can sometimes make locals view tourists not as guests, but as economic opportunities. Overcharging or small scams aren't always about greed. For many, it's survival in an economy where foreign money feels like the only growth sector left.
To be fair, one thing almost every visitor and expert will tell you is how incredibly friendly and respectful Thai people are towards foreigners. For the most part, they genuinely see visitors as guests and would never intentionally scam or mistreat them. We even spoke with several expats and longtime travelers, and unlike what you might have seen in that recent BBC documentary, "The Dark Side of Thailand," every single one of them said that they feel safer walking around at night in Bangkok than in most Western cities, especially the UK. So, despite these little frustrations, there's no denying that Thailand remains one of the world's most welcoming and enjoyable travel destinations. It's just that the rest of the region is catching up. Countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia are now offering comparable experiences with fewer crowds and lower prices.
To stay on top, Thailand has to evolve. The real question is, can Thailand reinvent its tourism model and its national image with the same methodical drive and vision that once made it so successful? The focus for Thailand now is on attracting a different kind of visitor: business travelers, digital nomads, and high-net-worth individuals who can stay longer, spend more, and invest in the country. And the government has rolled out a whole range of new visa programs to make that happen. For example, there's a Smart Visa aimed at entrepreneurs, investors, and tech talent – the kind of people who might have once gone to Singapore or Dubai. Thailand is now trying to position itself as a creative and digital hub where startup founders, freelancers, and executives can actually live, not just visit.
And just as South Korea used K-pop and K-dramas to fuel its global image, Thailand is now working to export its own soft power. The new government has officially declared Thai soft power a national strategy, actively promoting Thai food, fashion, music, and film on the global stage. And as a personal aside, Thailand really does make some of the best horror movies in the world. Then there's the whole "Butter Bear" craze: Thailand's answer to the Labubu doll. Now, I'm not sure if this was ever part of an official soft power strategy or just a random social media meme going viral, but either way, it was remarkably effective at luring Chinese tourists back to Thailand after all the negative publicity around the kidnapping incident.
But at the end of the day, here's the bigger issue. This new tourism model, designed to make Thailand cool and attract skilled professionals, will mainly benefit the upper middle class and foreign investors, not the average Thai worker who is still making around $400 a month. If it was ever the Thai government's intention that the original "Amazing Thailand" campaign would lift prosperity for all Thai people, then decades later, it's clear that that promise remains unfulfilled for most working-class Thais.
So, once again, Thailand stands at a crossroads. It can reinvent itself to attract more business travelers, widening the gap even further between elites and working-class locals, or try to make tourism more sustainable and address growing inequality. This is a serious challenge with no simple solution. The real question is whether the same ingenuity that built a $50 billion tourism empire can create something more lasting, not just for visitors, but for the working-class locals who rely on tourism to survive. Because make no mistake, Thailand needs tourism. But unless it also develops other sectors and lifts regions like Isan, economic and social divides could deepen and weaken the kingdom's prospects for long-term stability.
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