Air pollution in northern Thailand is becoming a problem for tourists.

The government on Monday, April 10, urged citizens to stay indoors and away from outdoor activities due to high pollution levels in Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai and surrounding provinces that are deterring tourists and scaring locals.

The city, ahead of Lahore, Pakistan, and New Delhi, India, topped the global chart for poor air quality maintained by air quality information platform IQAir for several weeks last month.

Prior to the pandemic in 2019, Chiang Mai welcomed 10.8 million tourists. Nevertheless, hotel bookings in the city have decreased to 45% occupancy, according to Phunut Thanalaopanich, head of the Thai Hotel Association Northern Chapter, who spoke to Reuters on Monday.

That falls far short of the 80% to 90% forecast before to this week's Songkran vacations, which celebrate the Thai New Year.

It (has) had an effect on my business. People aren't coming because they can't see the view, according to 53-year-old orange juice vendor Sunat Insao.

The third-largest city in Thailand, Chang Mai, scored 289 on the IQAir air quality index (AQI) index in March, which gauges the concentration of respirable small particles in the atmosphere.

It decreased to 171 on Monday but remained 19 times above the range advised by the World Health Organization.

You can sense the dust on your face. While I washed my face, I noticed the pad and thought, "This is terrible, really unclean," remarked 27-year-old visitor Fernanda Gonzalez from Mexico.

The combination of forest fires and agricultural burning in Thailand and its surrounding nations has been blamed by the authorities.

This week, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced that Laos and Myanmar were working with him to eliminate hot spots along the border in order to reduce transboundary haze.

Pathsharasakon Po, a 36-year-old native of Chiang Mai, said she was worried about allergies or even cancer.