PHUKET: The long holiday at the end of the month is expected to generate more than 2 billion baht in tourism revenue for Phuket, according to the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
From Friday to Sunday, the TAT projects 234,035 people will visit the southern resort island and generate about 2.2 billion baht, said Lertchai Wangtrakuldee, the director of the office.
Phuket has 1,890 hotels with 101,556 rooms. Hotel occupancy was currently at 65.9% with the average stay 1.7 days per visitor, he said on Tuesday.
The caretaker cabinet on Tuesday declared Monday, July 31 a special government holiday, creating a six-day vacation period from July 28 to Aug 2 to spur travel and help the economy.
July 28 is His Majesty the King’s birthday, Aug 1 is Asana Bucha Day and Aug 2 the beginning of Buddhist Lent, all government holidays. The extra day makes it an uninterrupted six day-weekend for government employees.