Tourist fervour takes toll on traffic

At press time yesterday, the bumper-to-bumper line-up of vehicles still persisted. It was reported that up to 20,000 tourists were heading to the attraction. 

More than 100 police and volunteers were called in to tackle the congestion, while a pit stop was arranged at Ban Doi Nam Piang Din to keep away the visitors’ vehicles.

Phu Tub Berk recently made headlines after authorities alleged forestland encroachment and land misuse by resort operators in the area. 

So far, 10 resorts have been deemed by court orders to be violating the law and their occupants have been told to leave before the structures would be demolished. 

A total of 57 resorts were accused of forestland encroachment or misuse of land plots that had originally been allocated to hilltribes for agricultural use. 

As visitors were struggling on the road yesterday morning, officials cleared the way for an entourage of Minister of Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul to pass through, which left many tourists even more disgruntled. The minister’s team was scheduled to have a morning meeting with affected resort operators and community leaders to solve the problem of regulating Phu Tub Berk land use. 

Meanwhile, many holidaymakers yesterday exposed themselves to the chilly weather and the fog over the Dong Yai Forest-Banthat mountain range from the top of Pha Daeng rock cliff, which is located between of Sa Kaew province’s Ta Phraya district and Buri Ram province’s Noen Din Daeng district. President of the Lam Nang Rong sub-district administrative organisation in Noen Di Daeng Boontham Kongsukmak said his office would seek a budget to develop this spot as a provincial tourist attraction and link it with other nearby places such as a three-tier waterfall and a bat cave.

The three-day holiday period and the festive spirit ahead of the end of the Buddhist Lent period reportedly brought as many as 10,000 visitors a day to Loei’s Chiang Khan district. Tourists enjoyed the view of the sunset above the Mekong River while shopping for goods on Chai Khong Road where the province also arranged musical performances. Many resorts and homestays placed signs saying “fully booked”.