Park insists its closure is temporary

Park insists its closure is temporary

People queue up to enter the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation shop in Bangkok to buy face masks and hand sanitiser gel which remain scarce as the Covid-19 outbreak drags on. Nutthawat Wichieanbut
People queue up to enter the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation shop in Bangkok to buy face masks and hand sanitiser gel which remain scarce as the Covid-19 outbreak drags on. Nutthawat Wichieanbut

Executives of Legend Siam, a 4-billion-baht theme park in Chon Buri, admit the park has been forced to shut down due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but insist it's only temporary.

"We will reopen it as soon as the situation gets better, hopefully in November," Legend Siam marketing manager Narinthorn Na Bangchang said on Friday, denying a rumour on social media post that her company had been forced out of business.

News about the shutdown spread across the internet after a memo informing executives of the theme park's "temporary closing for renovation" leaked to the public.

This created a misunderstanding and has damaged the park's image, Ms Narinthorn said, adding that the closure will be used to install new machines and make other improvements. The park's temporary shutdown is also in line with the government's ongoing measures to control the spread of coronavirus by cutting down on crowds.

The park, which opened in late 2018 in Sattahip district, was normally packed with more than 10,000 tourists a day during high season and had an average of up to 5,000 visitors daily, notably Chinese nationals, even in the low season. However, after Covid-19 began spreading to many countries at an alarming rate, "the number of tourists fell by up to 95%", Ms Narinthorn said.

The outbreak dealt a further blow to the park which was already struggling with the country's tepid economy.

The usually overcrowded Chiang Mai airport is seeing a similar situation.

From Jan 1 to Feb 25, the number of daily arrivals only stood at 22,000 on average, marking a 40% drop compared to the same period last year, deputy airport chief Thananrat Prasertsri said yesterday.

"March will be critical because many airlines will cancel flights to affected countries," he said.

The number of passengers in 2019 stood at 11.3 million, but if the outbreak continues until June, the number of arrivals this year can be expected to dive to nine million passengers, Flg Off Thananrat said.

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