Russell Crowe’s Thailand tour tweets reveal silver lining in tourism-dependent economy’s Covid-19 struggle

The star, in Bangkok to work on ‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever’, has been posting pictures of his experiences with lizards, temples and tuk tuks on social media

While tourists have been staying away, revenue from filmmaking has boomed in a land known for its ability to ‘metamorphose’

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Gladiator star Russell Crowe posted this picture of himself on Twitter with the caption “Lost in Bangkok”. Photo: Twitter

Published: 8:00am, 22 Oct 2021Updated: 1:29pm, 25 Oct 2021

Even as Thailand struggles to revive its decimated tourism-dependent economy, Gladiator actor Russell Crowe’s social media posts have revealed a silver lining to the pandemic.

While tourists have been giving Thailand a wide berth – resulting in its economy shrinking by over 6 per cent in 2020 – revenue from filmmaking shot up to 3.4 billion baht (US$101 million) between January and October this year, compared to 929 million baht (US$27 million) between January and September 2020.

This past week, Crowe has tweeted about spending time in Bangkok and on the island of Phuket, as the country prepares to offer quarantine-free travel to vaccinated international tourists from designated low-risk nations from November 1.

He shared images of the orange sky at sunset, Phuket’s palm trees and the turquoise sea. He also tweeted “Lost in Bangkok” as he biked around the Thai capital and encountered a native monitor lizard, which he dubbed “My new buddy”.

This was after he tweeted pictures of his tour of Bangkok, with temples and tuk tuks in the background.