Thailand’s coronavirus second wave has hit merchants at Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep hard, despite few Covid-19 cases reported in the province.
Hawkers at the mountain viewpoint complained about a lack of tourists, as Thais and expats canceled travel plans during the outbreak that began in mid-December. Chiang Mai has seen only a handful of Covid-19 cases and none in the past 14 days.
Sunet Insao, 51, said she has been selling cold drinks at the viewpoint for 15 years and, before the pandemic, made up to 2,000 baht a day. Now her sales are 10 percent of this time last year.
Waranya Sanin, 42, and Namtan Sanin, both longtime sellers, said it has been very quiet with few to buy their northern food, even though they both enrolled in the government’s “Let’s Go Halves” scheme, which refunds half the price of their meals to buyers.
Many days she ends up feeding leftover food to dogs, Namtan said.
