False tsunami warning on social media affects Trang’s tourism

The president of the Trang Tourism and Hotel Association has criticised the spread of false tsunami warnings following Friday’s Myanmar earthquake, stating that they have taken a toll on tourism in Trang and other Andaman coastal provinces.

Somsak Suaboonthong, president of the association, said that 30% of tourists had called to cancel their hotel bookings in Trang after false warnings were posted by some Facebook users and later widely shared.

He added that around 50% to 60% of hotel guests had also called to indefinitely postpone their trips to Trang.
The wave of hotel booking cancellations and check-in postponements has severely impacted hotel operators in the southern province, Somsak said.

He believed that similar incidents had affected hotel operators in other Andaman coastal provinces due to the false tsunami warnings.

Somsak said he expected the public reaction to the earthquake to also affect tourism in Trang and other Andaman provinces during the Songkran holidays, though the extent of the impact remained uncertain.

He explained that large tour groups usually booked hotel rooms early in the month for Songkran check-ins, while individual tourists tended to book closer to the holiday. As a result, he said, it was still too early to determine how much tourist numbers would decline during the Songkran holidays.

Typically, the number of tourists drops by around 30% following a disaster, he added.

However, he reassured visitors that Trang and other Andaman provinces remained safe, with all necessary safety measures and rescue operations in place.

Somsak also clarified that recent images of extremely high and low sea levels were a normal phenomenon caused by the full moon and new moon, not a sign of an impending tsunami.