Thai military junta considers lifting curfew in tourism hotspots

BANGKOK - Thai military junta is considering lifting curfew in some tourism hotspots like Phuket and Pattaya to avoid inconveniences for tourists and the business sector.

The night curfew may be lifted in localities where there are no protests or anti-coup movements, the Bangkok Post quoted Nathawat Chancharoen, deputy spokesman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) as saying on Wednesday.

Nathawat said the NCPO will dispatch teams to various tourist destinations to assess the situation, and the decision on curfew lifting is expected to be concluded next week.

A recent report by the Tourism and Sports Ministry shows that although the number of foreign tourists dropped after the imposition of martial law, those who had already arrived, including some 4,000 Chinese tourists in Pattaya, had not rushed to return to their country as advised by their government, reported Bangkok Post.

The NCPO earlier on Tuesday reduced the curfew period nationwide to four hours from the current seven hours.

Accordingly, the new curfew time is applied from midnight to 4 am local time, instead of the previous curfew of 10 pm to 5 am local time.