Long holiday benefits some operators
published : 28 Jul 2023 at 12:37
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Molpasorn Shoowong
The sudden announcement of an extra holiday this weekend will benefit domestic tourism within the same region, but most people would still prefer to keep their savings rather than travel.
The cabinet this week approved July 31 as an extra holiday, creating a six-day long holiday from Friday until Aug 2.
The vice-president of the Eastern Chapter of the Thai Hotels Association (THA) said most four- to five-star hotels in Pattaya and Chon Buri already had an occupancy rate of over 90% this weekend even before the announcement was made.
Even though the extra-long holiday was long enough for overseas trips, guests who had made bookings did not cancel their trips to Pattaya, and some of them may use the extended vacation period to travel to other provinces nearby, such as Rayong, Chanthaburi or Trat.
The vice-president said hotel operators were concerned that tourism might be stagnant due to the political uncertainty. People would prefer to save their money for unexpected circumstances, he said.
The Thai Tourism Promotion Association said those travelling during this long weekend are tourists unfazed by the high cost of living or who have no debt.
People with a limited budget are saving money for necessary living costs.
Vocabulary
- announcement: a spoken or written statement that informs people about something - การประกาศ
- benefit: to help someone - มีประโยชน์ต่อ
- cabinet: the group of government ministers who make and approve government policy - คณะรัฐมนตรี
- circumstances (noun): facts or conditions that affect a situation - เหตุการณ์แวดล้อม
- cost: an amount of money that people need to pay for something - ค่า
- debt (noun): an amount of money that you owe - หนี้, นี้สิน
- extended: made longer or larger - ซึ่งยาวออกไป, ซึ่งกว้างออกไป, ซึ่งยืดออกไป
- necessary (adj.): essential, needful, something that you must do or have - จำเป็น, ซึ่งเลี่ยงไม่ได้, ซึ่งเป็นที่ต้องการ, สำคัญ
- occupancy rate: the percentage of rooms in a hotel that have paying guests staying in them, i.e., paying guests occupying them -
- operator (noun): a person or company that runs a business - ผู้ดำเนินกิจการทางธุรกิจ, ผู้ประกอบธุรกิจ
- stagnant: not developing, growing or changing - นิ่ง, ซึมเซา
- uncertainty: something that you cannot be sure about; a situation that causes you to be or feel uncertain - ความไม่มั่นใจ (ต่อเหตุการณ์ ชะตาชีวิต ฯลฯ), ความรู้สึกไม่แน่ใจ
- unexpected (adj): surprising way because you were not expecting it - ไม่คาดฝัน, น่าประหลาดใจ
- unfazed: not worried or surprised by something unexpected that happens - ไม่กังวล
