Curfew to be lifted for more tourist spots in southern Thailand

BANGKOK (Xinhua) - The Thai authorities are seeking to have curfew lifted shortly for more tourist spots in the southern coastal region of the country.

Tourism and Sports Ministry's undersecretary Suvat Sithilor said the agency will ask the National Council for Peace and Order to lift curfew currently imposed from midnight until 4 a.m. in the southern coastal resorts of Krabi, Pang-nga and Haat Yai.

Curfew, which was imposed nationwide as an immediate aftermath of the May 22 coup spearheaded by army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, has already been lifted for the country's eastern tourist city of Pattaya and the southern island resorts of Phuket and Koh Samui.

Like those world-renowned tropical resorts, the situation in Krabi, Pang-nga and Haat Yai where foreign tourists usually had the penchants for late-night entertainment was not considered to have jeopardized national security or been affected by the current political atmospheres in Bangkok or elsewhere, according to the undersecretary.  

"For that reason, the National Council for Peace and Order will be suggested next week to waive up curfew for the rest of the southern tourist spots where the situation has obviously been normal," he said.

Nevertheless, curfew will be as yet effective in the capital city where anti-coup protesters have intermittently taken to the streets as well as the northern city of Chiang Mai which is largely viewed as a hometown stronghold of deposed premiers Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, Thaksin.

The number of foreign tourists to Thailand has dropped by 30 percent following the military coup which overthrew a caretaker civilian government and ended up six-month-long street protests in the capital.

About 1.7 million foreigners reportedly visited the country last month, compared to as many as 2.4 million who had been earlier expected, according to tourism officials.

The sharp decline in the number of the visiting foreigners was primarily attributed to the prolonged political crisis which culminated in the coup.

It quickly prompted 21 countries around the globe to issue official warnings for their citizens to cancel or postpone their planned visits to this country while 46 others have advised their peoples to take precaution and recommended safety measures during their stays.

Meanwhile, the Tourism and Sports Ministry will ask the military council to provide an estimated $30 million in funding for a major tourist campaign to restore the confidence of world travelers in visiting the Southeast Asian country, they said.

 As many as 1,000 representatives of foreign tour agents and foreign media will be invited on "familiarization trips" to those major tourist spots.  

Such tourist campaigns are not only designed to attract foreigners to come over the next few months but to pave the way for an upcoming high season which will draw visitors between October and December, the officials said.

Foreign and domestic tour agents will be suggested to join the tourism agency in the running of the high-season campaign, they said.