Top tourist destinations were packed over the long weekend and more many tourism promotions are planned for the months ahead.
In Chiang Mai, tourists flocked to Doi Inthanon, the country’s highest peak, where the temperature dropped to 9 degrees Celsius yesterday after the cool season officially began last Thursday, according to the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD).
The TMD did caution that despite the rainy coming to an end, some areas will continue to experience heavy rainfall and the lingering effects of recent floods.
Kriangkrai Chaipiset, chief of the Doi Inthanon National Park, said the lowest temperature recorded was at the Kew Mae Pan lookout point visited by more than 5,500 tourists yesterday.
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Between 20,000 and 30,000 visitors spent the three-day holiday, created by King Chulalongkorn Memorial Day, in the eastern coastal province of Trat, said Saksit Mungkan, secretary-general of Trat Tourism Council.
He estimated that hundreds of millions of baht were generated by the holiday influx for a local economy brought to its knees by the downturn in tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hotels and resorts in the major islands off the coast were said to have enjoyed 90% bookings on average.
Most visitors were said to be Thais, taking advantage of the government’s tourism and travel subsidies launched to stimulate an economy devastated by the pandemic.
Mr Mungkan said that from the end of this year until the Songkran festival in April next year, the province’s tourism businesses were planning a series of sporting and entertainment events.
The planned events include concerts by famous artists to help boost the struggling sector.
In Kanchanaburi, tourists flocked to the famous Erawan and Sai Yok waterfalls but only a limited number of visitors at the Erawan waterfall, which was closed briefly last week due to flooding, were permitted into the water for health reasons.
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