Hoteliers: Online car registration needed to reduce queues at Sadao border

Cheap food, good prices still draw tourists to Hat Yai

SONGKHLA - The president of the Hat Yai-Songkhla Hotel Association wants the government to allow Malaysian visitors to register their vehicles online prior to travelling, to reduce the long queues at Thai immigration checkpoints.

The association said serious action is needed to reduce the increasing checkpoint congestion.

Malaysia drivers must sometimes queue for hours at the main overland gateway in Sadao district, Songkhla, just to obtain clearance to enter southern Thailand during holiday periods. They also had to wait for hours on their way back home, sometimes forced to spend the night in their cars.

Visitors to Thailand can fill out an immigration card, Tor Mor 6, online before entering the kingdom. But the online system is still not applicable to foreign-registered vehicles, which requires a Tor Mor 2, and the number and names of the passengers, which needs a Tor Mor 3, when entering Thailand.

About 300,000 Malaysians visited Hat Yai district and other areas for the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha and mid-year school break from May 27 to Sunday. They spent about one billion baht, Malaysia's Bernama newsagency reported on Friday, quoting the hotels  association. The Eid al-Adha festival is called the Hari Raya Haji in southern Thailand.

Sitthipong Sitthiphataraprabha, the association president, told the Bangkok Post the long queues could deter Malaysians thinking of visiting southern Thailand if it remains unresolved despite repeated calls from business operators.

"It will damage the economy of Songkhla and parts of other southern provinces because they rely almost 100 percent on Malaysian tourists," he said.

Mr Sitthipong expressed his growing frustration in comments made to Bernama. "Some tourists were stranded on their way back to Malaysia, to the point where they had to spend the night in their vehicles or by the roadside due to the unusual congestion," he said.

Charoon Kaewwajeesub, of the Phatthalung Hotel Association, echoed his sentiments, saying economic opportunities were being lost. Disgruntled Malaysian holidaymakers could turn to other countries for their next vacation.

Phatthalung, Satun, Trang, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and the three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala were all popular destinations for Malaysians, Mr Sitthipong said.

Two Malaysian tourists told Bernama that the affordable and delicious food in Hat Yai was a major reason they holidayed in the city.

And on the brighter side, Faizul Nasrudding, who arrived with his wife by motorbike from Malaysia's Selangor state, said he and his friends were not too discouraged by the long wait at Sadao checkpoint.

"Even when faced with the congestion at the land crossing, I would still come here. There is no other place quite like Hat Yai," he said.