With no foreign tourists in town, a Jomtien Beach souvenir seller switched to selling fruit and lottery tickets to earn a living.
Wilai Phumlumnao used to hawk carved soap figurines to Chinese, Russian, and Indian tourists at the Hanuman Curve before the coronavirus pandemic shut down foreign tourism last March, earning about 1,000 baht a day. When her soap business washed out, she knew a career change was in order.
She registered with the Government Lottery Office to sell tickets and then started selling fruit at 40-100 baht a sale. She makes less than she did hawking tourist kitsch, but she said Feb. 17 it was better than nothing.
