Cool weather sees tourists heading north for holiday weekend

More Thais will travel during this holiday weekend than last week’s as cool temperatures see tourists heading north. People are choosing to travel on Constitution Day because they preferred to stay with their family on Fathers’ Day last weekend.

Cool and foggy weather in the North and Northeast are very attractive to Thais who have been sweating under sultry storm clouds for months.

Hotel occupancy rates are back at the top, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

The tourism authority expects that the number of domestic trips from Saturday to Monday will exceed 3.4 million and generate 12.6 billion baht (US$360 million) in economic returns. Average occupancy rates are expected to be around 60% across the country, but higher in the north and north east.

The seasonal cool weather and misty conditions in the mountains will attract tourists.

Closer to Bangkok, the occupancy rate in the eastern and central regions is forecast to rise over 6o% this weekend. Chonburi tops the list due to its proximity to Bangkok and the abundance of natural sites for one-day trips.

Chiang Mai is expected to have the highest occupancy rate, at over 8o%, due to its cool weather.

Six of the eight other provinces on the list are major tourist destinations. Chiang Rai and Nan, which took the 10th spot, lack major cities, which are still a draw for domestic tourists, but their northern locations are still a draw during the peak travel season.

According to its analysis of weekend tourism from 2018 to 2022, TAT found that long weekends are the most popular for domestic tourists and that the condition of the economy and purchasing power are the major factors in determining how far domestic tourists will travel.

When there is more than one long weekend in a month, domestic tourists generally select one for travel rather than take multiple long weekend trips, according to TAT research.