Hotel rooms fully booked in Hat Yai for Hari Raya celebrations

SONGKHLA, Thailand, August 8 (TNA) - Tourism is booming in Hat Yai, Thailand's southern business hub in southern Songkhla province, thanks to the Hari Raya or Eid al-Fitr festival to celebrate the end of the Muslim annual fasting month of Ramadan, starting from August 8. Crowds of Thai and Malaysian tourists are shopping in Hat Yai district, where hotel rooms have also been fully occupied, so have those in nearby districts and adjacent provinces in the Muslim-predominant Thai far South. Somchart Pimthanapoonporn, President of the Hat Yai-Songkhla Hotels Association, assessed on Thursday that at least 200 million baht should change hands during the Hari Raya festival. Security officers, including plain-clothes ones, are ensuring safety in Hat Yai, which is, thus, effectively boosting tourists’ confidence. Songkhla Governor Krisada Boonrach, meanwhile, asked government offices and private workplaces to let Muslim workers take a leave for religious activities on Thursday without deducting their leave days. (TNA)