Smoke haze hits northern Songkran hotel bookings
By Sakaorat Sirima, Nattawat Laping
The Northern smog crisis is taking its toll on the popular tourist region, with officials admitting a significant drop seen in hotel-room bookings, even in Chiang Mai, which is otherwise hugely popular as a destination for Songkran celebrations.
“Thai tourists are worried that the haze will harm their health,” La-iad Boonsrithong, the president of the Upper North Hotels Association, said yesterday.
“Normally, bookings for Songkran would be more than 85% of total occupancy in Chiang Mai by now. But because of the smog problem this year, the bookings are only 60%.”
Meanwhile the national TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn admits that the smog problem would likely dent the tourism income of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and other nearby provinces by 2 billion baht. Chiang Rai Industrial Council’s acting president Kitti Tissakul says the number of tourists in the province had dropped by between 10 and 20% because of smog.
SOURCE: The Nation
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