Bangkok ‘unique’ despite street stall edict: Thai tourism boss

Bangkok’s street food culture will survive a crackdown on vendors, Thailand’s tourism chief vowed Thursday, assuring travelers that the city was not being remodelled into a Singapore-lite.

The City Hall stunned Thais and tourists alike this week with plans to bar the capital’s worldfamous food stalls from all main roads.

On Thursday the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand pushed back against fears that Bangkok was being gentrified in the image of Singapore – a city that relishes orderliness but is often characterized as tame compared to its Southeast Asian rivals.

“We will keep our uniqueness. We won’t change our Yaowarat [Chinatown] into Orchard [road],” Uthasak Supasorn said, referring to a shopping district in Singapore with wide boulevards devoid of street life.

Nearly two-thirds of Bangkok’s 30,000 street vendors have already been removed or relocated from pavements to open up space for pedestrians.

Vendors will be allowed to set up shop on smaller streets while hawkers based in two top tourist hubs – Chinatown and Khaosan Road – will be reorganized.

“Bangkok has some of the best street food in the world, you cannot take it away from the people of the world,” the tourist governor said.