Holiday season travel expected to drop by 5 million trips due to recent Covid-19 cases

Due to the recent cluster of Covid-19 infections in Samut Sakhon, hitting a record high in daily infections, tourism officials say the yearly tally for domestic trips is likely to fall by 5 million.

With lockdown measures and international travel restrictions this year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand focused on local travel and set a goal of 100 million domestic trips by the end of the year, implementing various incentives to get Thais travelling. Now, with more than 800 Covid-19 cases linked to a seafood market in Samut Sakhon, just southwest of Bangkok, TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn says he now expects the tally to fall to 95 million domestic trips. UPDATE: As of this evening, the number of Covid-19 cases linked to the “Samut Sakhon cluster” surpassed 1,000.

“Some provinces are being alerted against mass gatherings and may not want to see people from other provinces come in for celebrations anymore, which is yet another dilemma.”

In Bangkok, New Years countdown gatherings are cancelled, unless the organiser submits a disease control plan and gets approval from the government. In Chiang Mai, a countdown celebration planned by TAT to boost tourism might be cancelled. The provincial governor will discuss with tourism officials whether or not to hold the event. Many hotel bookings in areas surrounding Samut Sakhon have been cancelled.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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