SARS Scare Keeps Thai Revelers at Home During Holidays: Survey

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 09, 2003

SARS Scare Keeps Thai Revelers at Home During Holidays: Survey

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A survey shows that almost half of Bangkok's residents will celebrate the Songkran festival in the capital due to the SARS scare while less than 0.5 percent plan to travel abroad, the Nation newspaper reported Wednesday.

According to Manus Pipathananunth, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association, SARS has made the outbound tour business to face a bleak outlook and the situation is the worst ever, worse than the 1991 Gulf War, the 1997 economic crisis and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

He revealed that many of the staff at the association's 500 member companies had been forced to "take a break" or work for only half a month.

At least 50 operators would be going out of business and there would be more in the future, Manus said.

The Bangkok University poll, released Tuesday, also found 76.5 percent of the 1,190 respondents supported the ban on pressurized water guns as a safety measure during the water-splashing festival.

Respondents also welcomed a government campaign on promoting the safe splashing of water, including the ban on using color pellets and substandard white-clay powder.

Those polled said they agreed with the Culture Ministry's dresscode during Songkran, which discourages the wearing of spaghetti-strap tops.

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