Q: Is the recent military coup in Thailand hurting the tourism industry? Also, what percentage of Thailand’s economy is tourism?
—William McKee Jr., Flowery Branch
A: Thailand's military shortened its curfew to four hours – midnight to 4 a.m. – on May 28, after tourism officials reported a 20 percent decrease in the number of visitors. The military took control of the country on May 22 after six months of demonstrations.The curfew – which was from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. — had forced many businesses, including Bangkok's thriving nightclubs, bars and restaurants to close early.
About 26.7 million tourists visited Thailand last year, an increase of 20 percent from 2012.The tourism industry accounted for 20.2 percent of the national gross domestic product in 2013, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. There was a 5 percent decrease in visitors to Thailand, about 400,000 fewer than last year, for the first five four months of 2014, according to The Irish Times.
Q: I’ve noticed that Google is trading different classes of stock. What are the differences between Google’s Class A stock and its common stock?
—Lance DeLoach, Thomaston
A: Class A shares often come with voting privileges, as with the case of Google's Class A shares, which come with one vote each. Owners of the company's Class C shares have no voting rights. Google also has Class B stock, which comes with 10 votes per share, but it's owned by company insiders, according to the New York Times, and isn't traded "in the public market." Google's Class C shares trade under the GOOG symbol and the Class A shares are under GOOGL after the company's April stock split.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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