Tourism officials predict 3 million Thais will travel domestically during the Nov. 19-22 holiday weekend, generating 1.3 billion baht in revenue for the industry.
Tourism Authority of Thailand Gov. Yuthasak Supasorn said Nov. 18 that the government-created long weekend will see travel equivalent to a normal Songkran holiday.
However, he predicted a national hotel-occupancy rate of only 37 percent.
Yuthasak said the discovery of just a solitary case of Covid-19 in Krabi last week resulted in a rash of panicked hotel cancellations in the South.
He added that, as this weekend is not a real holiday – only one created by the government to encourage Thais to travel and spend money – many companies are not observing it and requiring people to continue working. Plus, another holiday weekend occurs in just two weeks’ time.
Others, however, will take advantage of cooler temperatures in the North and South to travel, taking advantage of a government discount campaign.
Major tourist spots like Chonburi remain popular, Yuthasak said, but minor sites will also benefit, such as Nakhon Sri Thammarat, where Thai Smile Airlines is now flying direct from Chiang Mai.
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