About 30,000 Malaysians expected to visit Thailand next week

KOTA BARU: About 30,000 Malaysians are expected to cross into Thailand and spend an estimated 600 million baht (RM78 million) during the upcoming long holiday season in conjunction with Aidiladha and other public holidays.

Thailand-Southeast Asia Halal Trade and Tourism Association president Aida Oujeh said the estimate was based on the projected arrival of Malaysian tourists who were expected to spend about 20,000 baht (RM2,600) each during their stay in southern Thailand.

As usual, she said Malaysians were expected to flock to the five southern provinces in the kingdom — Songkhla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Satun.

Aida added that a similar number of Indonesian tourists were also expected to enter southern Thailand during the same period.

She said hotels in major tourist destinations, especially Hat Yai, were already almost 90 per cent fully booked.

“Nearly 20,000 hotel rooms have been prepared to accommodate the influx of tourists.

“Most of the tourists are Malaysians visiting Hat Yai, which remains the largest and most popular city in southern Thailand,” she said.

Aida said visitors were expected to enter Thailand through Bukit Kayu Hitam, followed by Padang Besar and the Kota Putra border checkpoint in Kedah, which connects to the Ban Prakob checkpoint in Na Thawi district, Songkhla.

She said Thai authorities had organised various events and promotional activities to attract foreign tourists during the holiday period, including food festivals, familiarisation trips and the Hat Yai Jazz Music Festival.

For Malaysian tourists, the most popular destinations remained Hat Yai and Danok in Songkhla, as well as Satun for island tourism and shopping trips.

Meanwhile, checks at Rantau Panjang showed that Malaysians had already begun entering Thailand via the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) complex today, causing slight traffic congestion stretching about 1km.

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

المصدر: New Straits Times