After a surprisingly strong Songkran, hotel bookings in Pattaya have evaporated, with occupancy in the week after the Thai New Year at less than 1 percent of what it was during the holiday week.
Sanphet Suphabuansathien, former President of Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter, said April 22 that fear and restrictions from the third coronavirus outbreak have scared away all travelers, and Pattaya is now a ghost town again.
The executive with the Zign Group of hotels said a third of his nine resorts are closed and the other six have opened only their pool villas on weekends.
The situation for tourism nationwide is the same. The Center for Economic and Business Forecasting at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce said the third wave is costing Thailand 3.3 billion baht a day and will depress gross domestic product 0.6 percent a month.
