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Smog drives away Thailand’s tourists as Laos, Myanmar farmers grow cash crops for China
- More than 2 million people in Thailand have been hospitalised with breathing problems this year, as farmers in Myanmar and Laos slash and burn land
- Regulating agriculture is challenging as it affects people’s livelihoods, while the crisis in Myanmar makes border management virtually impossible
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For weeks now, a thick smog carrying harmful particles that routinely reach beyond the hazardous limit has greeted arrivals at Chiang Mai airport, with images of the wheeze-inducing smoke shared across social media.
The pollution has stubbornly stayed, but the tourists have not, with bookings for what was Thailand’s second-most visited city before the pandemic having fallen off a cliff. On Friday, Chiang Mai’s governor asked people to stay home as wildfires ripped through hillsides near the city, sending air quality plummeting once more.
“The smog is everywhere,” said Gade Grey, owner of Elliebum Boutique Hotel in the northern city, whose temples, old ruins, art, markets and slow-paced charm drew an estimated 4 million overseas visitors in 2019 – many of them from China.
“Customers have been calling to cancel their stays. It gets worse each year.”
The hotel cancellations are a bitter, cruel blow to northern Thailand’s Covid-battered economy, which has been recovering at a slower pace due to China’s delayed reopening to the world.
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