Tourist numbers drop

Staff reporters

Tourist numbers have dropped as much as 40 percent from last year, Chiang Mai Governor Amornphan Nimanant announced. He believed that the political unrest had affected Chiang Mai’s tourism more than expected.

Chiang Mai Governor Amornphan Nimanant announced the drop in tourists for the Songkran holidays.

Initially, it had been expected there would be at least 300,000 visitors to Chiang Mai, boosting revenues in the city by as much as 1 billion baht.

The Governor said that due to political unrest and the recent explosions in the city, security has been stepped up and that he ordered all officials to be on high alert.

“The current political factor has affected tourism, however, we can ensure that tourists and visitors to Chiang Mai this time will be safe,” he assured, adding that the police have stepped up patrols and enforcement to keep things safe.

Chiang Mai is rich in arts and culture and the Governor added that he believed Chiang Mai people would not create any violence during Songkran.

Governor Amornphan also asked all sides for help in keeping Chiang Mai peaceful and to return the city to normality.

http://chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd7

-- Chiang Mai Mail 2010/04/20

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Just open your eyes and you can see that LOW SEASON has hit with a vengeance.

I had my cousin over for a couple of weeks at the beginning of March and we did some touring on a couple of motorbikes.

He was very disappointed by the air pollution and it's unlikely he'll be back to Chiang Mai.

Not at all surprising.