Haze in northern Thailand not heavily affecting tourist arrivals

BANGKOK, March 11 (TNA) - The Association of Domestic Travel (ADT) has pointed out that the haze problem in northern Thailand will not heavily affect the number of tourist arrivals, as a large number of tourists choose to travel to southern Thailand for vacation during the summer months. ADT President Maiyarat Pirayakoses noted however, political instability and floods would still deter some tourists from traveling to Thailand. The ADT president said that the number of tourists in the beginning of the year was estimated at around 70 percent of the target number, as tourists were still neither confident in Thailand’s political climate nor the ability to deal with future flooding. As a result, tourists would be spending more cautiously in 2012. However, the ADT president said that the number of tourists would rebound during the Songkran holiday in April, but acknowledged that some of the tourists would actually be travelers returning to their homes in the countryside, not tourists on vacation. Nevertheless, a rebound in the number of travelers would push the Thai tourism industry in the right direction. (TNA)