With the upcoming long Malaysia Day weekend and school holidays, many Malaysians are leaving their homes for a vacation either within or outside of Malaysia.
Among the most popular holiday destinations is the Land of Smiles (aka Thailand), where thousands of Malaysians are expected to travel there for a getaway.
15 to 20K M’sians expected to visit Thailand per day
Speaking to NST, Malaysian consul-general in Songkhla Ahmad Fahmi Ahmad Sarkawi said an average of 15,000 to 20,000 Malaysians are slated to enter Thailand per day during the Malaysia Day long weekend and school holidays.
For the uninitiated, Malaysia Day falls on Sept 16 while Sept 17 has been declared as a replacement holiday in the private sector due to the overlapping of Malaysia Day and Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday.
As for the school holidays, it begins today and will end on Sept 21.
Fahmi said that out of all the locations in Thailand, Hatyai and Songkhla were found to be huge favourites among Malaysians.
“After the Covid-19 pandemic, the southern part of Thailand became a popular tourist destination for Malaysians.
“This could be seen with the latest number of Malaysians visiting Southern Thailand during the recent National Day public holiday.
“The figure recorded by the Thai authorities has reached about 18,000 people and this time, l believe there will be between 15,000 and 20,000 Malaysian tourists spending their holidays there,” he said as quoted by the English daily.
Fahmi added that most Malaysians entered Thailand via the Sadao-Bukit Kayu Hitam checkpoint.
“Other tourists will use the other checkpoints in Padang Besar, Sungai Golok and Betong. l believe around 10,000 Malaysians a day will pass these three checkpoints,” he said.
Huge boost to Thai economy
According to Bangkok Post, over 13,000 Malaysians passed through Songkhla’s Sadao checkpoint on Aug 31 and around 5,000 others arrived via the Betong checkpoint in Yala for their holiday.
As a result of this surge in tourists, the Thai government said a total of 100 million Thai baht (approx. RM13mil) is expected to be injected into the country’s economy.
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