Hundreds have canceled holidays in southern Thailand after a series of weekend blasts ripped apart a tourist area, killing four people and wounding dozens, officials said yesterday.
"Malaysian and Singapore[an] tourists, who are majority of our customers, have canceled their reservations, citing the bomb scares," a receptionist at Hat Yai's Novotel Central Hotel said. "Before this, we were fully booked every weekend."
Thai police have yet to make any arrests over Saturday's attacks in the main southern tourist hub of Hat Yai.
PHOTO: AFP
The unrest continued on Sunday night as militants torched school buildings, including a daycare center, and destroyed several vehicles.
An attempt to bomb a military convoy in southern Thailand's Narathiwat province -- one of three Muslim-majority provinces gripped by an Islamic insurgency -- was also made, police said.
No one was hurt in the attacks, which police said were meant to spread fear among a nervous population that has already been shaken by daily shootings and bombings.
More than 1,400 people have been killed since January 2004, and experts warn the violence appears to be intensifying.
Saturday's bombings killed four people -- three Thais and a Canadian, who was the first foreigner to die in the insurgency.
Thailand's Health Minister, Pinit Jarusombat, said 14 other foreigners were among the 72 wounded, including six Malaysians, three Singaporeans, three Britons, an Indian and an American.
The bombers targeted bars and restaurants popular with tourists in what experts say marked an escalation in the insurgency, which had so far targeted mainly police or military, but not foreigners.
Officials warned that with the latest attacks, the region's tourism sector has been dealt a serious blow.
"Apart from the cancelation of existing bookings, we are afraid that the latest attack in Songkhla [Province] would affect ... tourists' decision to come to Thailand," Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said.
Thailand's Tourism Authority called yesterday for more security measures at airports and tourist destinations.
On Sunday, Thailand's Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn made a rare public visit to Hat Yai where he spoke with residents and tourists, offering the royal family's support.
Thailand's US$12 billion-a-year tourism sector is only just recovering from the Christmas 2004 tsunami, which devastated much of the kingdom's western coastline.
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