The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is excited about the prospect of more visitors from Malaysia entering Thailand through a new, bigger checkpoint in Sadao district of Songkhla, but residents in the town where the old checkpoint is located don’t feel like celebrating.
The tourism agency has welcomed the opening of the new Sadao checkpoint and hopes it will end the gridlock from long lines of Malaysian cars and tour buses, and encourage Malaysians to spend money in southern Thailand.
“The new Sadao road creates an opportunity to transform a border crossing into a regional tourism corridor,” TAT governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said in a statement released on Monday.
The Thai and Malaysian prime ministers, Anutin Charnvirakul and Anwar Ibrahim, on Friday jointly opened the new Thai checkpoint and a new road to the border.
The new crossing is now the main checkpoint for all vehicles, from trucks to tour buses. The old crossing in Ban Dan Nok will not be closed but has been relegated to be used for small cars and people travelling on foot.
The two checkpoints are about one kilometre apart.
The TAT is planning a new campaign to draw Malaysians to travel beyond Hat Yai city, their favourite destination, to explore Phatthalung, Trang and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces.
Malaysians are second only to Chinese among foreign visitors to Thailand. Two million Malaysians visited the country from Jan 1 to July 8 this year, and the TAT targets 4.8 million of them for the full year.
Uncertainty in Dan Nok
With tour buses are diverted to the new checkpoint, residents in Dan Nok are living with uncertainty about the future because the road to the new checkpoint does not pass the town.
Dan Nok bustles with shops, hotels and entertainment venues mainly for Malaysian visitors who do not want to travel to Hat Yai city. It is also a stop for Thai tourists to shop and spend at the border.
Businesses and residents in Dan Nok could be affected because not as many Thai and Malaysian vehicles will pass through the border town anymore, said a commentary on Dan Nok Stories, a Facebook page dedicated to the town.
“Everything here in Dan Nok is feeling the impact,” the owner of a business that sells car insurance for Thai vehicles entering Malaysia told Thai PBS.
But Bunthoon U-chareon, the Sadao Customs House chief, told the broadcaster that Dan Nok is still a good place for Malaysians to visit after crossing the border to Thailand.
