Tourists visiting Hat Yai drop sharply

SONGKHLA, June 7 (TNA) – Tourism business operators are suffering severely as the number of foreign tourists visiting Hat Yai district in the southern province of Songkhla has dropped significantly due to curfew enforcement. They have urged the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to lift the four-hour curfew like it had done in other resort areas in the country in order to revive the tourism atmosphere in Hat Yai, known as shopping paradise in the deep South among the tourists. Surapol Kampalanonwat, president of Songkhla’s Tourism Business Association, complained that the number of tourists visiting Hat Yai has “dropped by no less than 60 per cent” since the curfew was imposed on May 22 – the day that NCPO seized power in Thailand. Many small shops are now feeling the impact of the curfew because most of them depend on foreign tourists -- majority of them Malaysians and Singaporeans, said Surapol. NCPO should consider on lifting curfew imposed in Songkhla in order to improve tourism climate, he said. To date, NCPO has lifted the curfew in seven popular resort districts or provinces with an aim not to scare away tourists and boost tourism revenue for the country. (TNA)