The research aims to explain how COVID-19 has affected wellness business SMEs in Bangkok. It also uses political and management theories namely, developmental state theory, social capital theory, diffusion of innovation theory, resource-based theory, and image theory. The research is qualitative research by nature as it uses snowball sampling and non-random sampling methods to gather the information through semi-structure in-depth interviews and focus groups. The main finding of this research is that, though the Thai government has set “Medical and Wellness Tourism” as the country’s development strategy to make Thailand a hub for medical and wellness tourism since 2002, the country has failed to manage COVID-19 crisis, and to provide appropriate risk management and suitable compensation to wellness business SMEs, both entrepreneurs and employees. As well, the government has high hope for the future of the wellness business as it believes that the sector, combined with medical and leisure tourism, will still be the engine of economic growth for Thailand while the business sector has not yet seen the bright future for wellness business in the post pandemic world. The conclusion of the research is that the state ineffectively implements risk management measures makes the wellness SMEs in Bangkok suffer the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research suggests that crisis communication and crisis management plan of the country shall be improved in order to better relieve like situations if ever occurs again. As well, the limitation of this research, apart from the pandemic itself, is that it is mainly conducted in Bangkok, especially in the city center. Therefore, the research suggests that other researchers who are interested in this topic conduct research in more thorough areas of the city and even nationwide to fill the knowledge gap.