While no new coronavirus cases have been reported in Chonburi, the expected influx of 300,000 visitors from around the country forced the cancellation of the Pattaya Countdown, Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said.
The Dec. 29-31 music festival and fireworks show was shaping up to be a much-needed driver of year-end tourism for hard-hit Pattaya. But Sonthaya said Dec. 22 that, despite crowd- and disease-control measures that worked well during the Pattaya Music Festival earlier this month, the creeping spread of the Samut Sakhon Covid-19 cluster around the country opened the door to infected contacts bringing the disease to the East.
The mayor said that while the countdown event has been cancelled, many people will still come to Pattaya for the new year’s weekend. What he didn’t say was they would do so because they likely are unable to get refunds on their prepaid hotel rooms.
The mayor noted that hotels and private businesses still can hold their own new year events, as long as they are limited to 300 people and organizers submit disease-control plans to the city. (PCPR)
