Thailand’s latest wave of COVID-19 since late March would affect people’s travel plans during the traditional New Year (Songkran) festival, and cost the local tourism industry around 10 billion THB in revenue in the second quarter of 2021, the Kasikorn Research Centre (K-Research) said on April 13.

According to the centre, during the third wave, there are a higher number of cluster cases found in Bangkok and the outbreak has spread to several provinces faster than the previous waves.

This has resulted in the cancelation of many domestic trips during the Songkran holidays between April 10 to 18, affecting the projected revenue of the hospitality and guided tour industry, as well as other tourism-related businesses.

K-Research also slashed its estimate of total tourism revenue in the first half of the year by 130 billion THB to 137 billion THB, after forecasting 267 billion THB in January due to the pandemic.

The third wave could last longer than the previous ones due to the higher number of infections and the discovery that the mutated strain of the virus can spread faster, the centre added. It said the economic fallout will be more serious as the wave has a central hotspot in the capital city.

Thailand’s Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on April 13 that the country Thailand posted 965 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the national count to 34,575 cases, including 97 deaths.

Source: VNA