COME ON IN! A Thai entertainment worker touts for customers as girls dance in a go-go bar at the deserted red-light district of Patpong in Bangkok.

Nan is one of many sex workers in Bangkok's infamous red light district whose livelihood depends on a constant flow of tourists for business.

Although anti-government protesters have ended an eight-day siege of Bangkok's airports, the effect of Thailand's ongoing political chaos on the tourism industry is devastating.

Already retailers in many malls across Bangkok have slashed prices of their goods in a bid to recoup some sales which dipped as a result of the political crisis.

Sex tourism is no exception. Patpong's loud strip of live shows and sleazy nightlife depends especially on foreigners to keep afloat.

Now, the go-go bars are empty and sex is on sale at half price.

Although prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, estimates for the number of sex workers range from 80,000 to two million women and men.

For Nan, a large part of the money she earned is sent back to her family near the Cambodian border. She said: 'It's high season, but now it's like low season.'

Said Lam, a man who works for Nan's bar: 'Now Thailand has a problem - no customers.'

An old man played guitar and sang along to a karaoke machine inside.

Outside, beneath the pink neon, about 10 women in almost identical low-cut dresses tried to drum up trade.

At the normally standing-room-only sex shows, five or six women swarm each new arrival. Some are following the example of Thailand's resorts and luxury hotels by offering discounted rates.

The airport closures are also hurting Bangkok's other entertainment options, such as the famous 'ladyboy' cabaret shows.

Said Mr Nipon Boonmasuwaran, sales and marketing manager of the Calypso show in Bangkok, where flamboyantly-dressed transvestites lip-sync and dance to famous tunes:

'Our guests have dropped 90 per cent - we have less than 50 guests in our 350-seat theatre.'

The Calypso also cancelled its second daily showing during the airport chaos when images of frustrated tourists trying to flee Thailand from a military airbase were beamed around the world.

'We handed out thousands of free tickets for the stranded hotel guests in order to entertain them and hope that they would buy drinks - otherwise we would have no business,' he said.

Trickling in

'Since the reopening of the airports, business is trickling in but very slowly.'

American tourists Lisa Richardson, 30, and Michael Latham, 29, felt sorry for the Thais whose livelihood was being hit.

Both said they would never have ventured to Patpong had they not been stranded in Bangkok.

He said: 'Being stuck for an extra week convinced us to spend time and money on things we wouldn't have normally - sex shows for example.'

Thailand the world's leading destination for sex tourists was until 2005, when its crown was taken by Brazil, according to Interpol.

Trying to sound hopeful of things returning to normal, Nan said: 'Maybe in 15 days or a month, it comes back.'

But the Tourism Authority of Thailand is not so optimistic.

It expects incoming travellers in 2009 to be half the 14.8 million the kingdom saw last year, with word of the protests causing tourists considering a trip to Thailand to book elsewhere.