6 hours Ago
Flooding in Songkhla and the Deep South have stung the Malaysian market, as both hotel and tour bookings in Hat Yai for the next two weekends have all been cancelled. Songchai Mungprasithichai, president of the Songkhla Tourism Promotion Association, said the cancellations were attributed to massive flooding in southern Thailand and severe weather in many states in Malaysia, including Kelantan. He said the floods disrupted travel plans for those entering via border checkpoints, while some tourists had their flights cancelled this week.
"Both tour groups and individual tourists cancelled their trips to Hat Yai during this weekend and next weekend. Even though Hat Yai was not affected, surrounding districts were inundated," said Mr Songchai. Before floods hit Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, he said tourism in Hat Yai was able to gain a significant number of Malaysian guests, with occupancy rates reaching 70% during weekends.
However, tourism operators are hoping that the floods in the Deep South would subside as soon as possible, in order to revive the market in time for the festive season in December. Mr Songchai said the flooding situation is estimated to have only a short-term impact on Hat Yai. He said the most important economic district of Songkhla this year should be able to welcome at least 1-1.
5 million Malaysian tourists. However, forward bookings for the New Year holiday remained slow as travellers are closely watching the flood situation before making a decision. He said most of them chose to skip their plans to travel during the year-end period and travel during the upcoming Chinese New Year instead as children would have a one-month school break from mid-January to mid-February, the same period as Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan 29, when parents would also have a week-long holiday.
Mr Songchai said most hotels in Hat Yai were fully booked in the last week of January as both international and local tourists planned to visit and celebrate the festive event around that time. "Hopefully, the flooding would not be as severe as in 2000 and 2010, when Hat Yai was directly impacted by the most devastating flood," he said. As of Nov 24, Malaysian tourist arrivals tallied 4.
4 million, following the Chinese market with 6 million tourists, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry..
