Chiang Mai’s New Year revelry hit by smog and war-related price spikes

The Doi Suthep temple in northern Thailand is known for its spectacular views of Chiang Mai and the lush forested mountains that surround it. Over recent weeks, though, visitors can see little of the city beyond a thick cloud of grey haze.

Persistent wildfires have caused intense air pollution across the north of Thailand, forcing three provinces to declare emergencies and triggering spikes in pollution-related illnesses.

The haze is yet another blow to tourism businesses already affected by the US-Israel war on Iran, which has disrupted flights and driven up operating costs, prompting Thailand’s tourism authority to revise down the national target for international arrivals by as much as 18%.

But people fear the pollution crisis could have an even more costly impact on their businesses. “Chiang Mai’s selling point is the chance to stay in the mountains, breathing fresh air. But when the dust comes, it destroys everything,” says Pitsamai Tuprit, 37, who runs the tour company Kai Rider travel.

The haze has plagued Chiang Mai for weeks in the run-up to Songkran, Thailand’s new year holiday, a key tourism date, which started on Monday. In the city centre, the streets are lined with shops selling water pistols and plastic buckets for tourists taking part in Songkran’s famous water fights.

People take part in water fight celebrations which are part of the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

Business groups have warned of a slowdown in bookings ahead of the festival, and tour operators such as Pitsamai say they have lost customers because of the pollution. Half of her customers have cancelled over recent weeks, she says.

She has cancelled most tours during the Songkran holiday because “it isn’t worth it, with the traffic and gas prices”.

The authorities have deployed artificial rain to try to clear the haze, but the pollution has persisted. On Monday, Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, which tracks the fires, reported 4,579 wildfire hotspots across the country. Chiang Mai remains among the world’s top five most-polluted cities monitored by the group IQAir.

The air pollution is a recurring annual problem, caused by wildfires and by farmers setting fire to their fields to quickly clear the land after harvesting.

A Buddhist monk extinguishes a wildfire in a forest.

A hillside wildfire seen from a road in Chiang Mai.

The practice is illegal but campaigners say it continues to happen because farmers, who are often contracted to supply large agribusinesses, lack expensive machinery. “It’s linked to the financial strain that they’re under,” says Weenarin Lulitanonda, the co-founder of the Thailand Clean Air Network. “What is cheaper than a matchstick to manage these things?”

High-profile cases, where people have been diagnosed with lung cancer, have shaken the public in Chiang Mai. Among them was Krittai Tanasombatkul, a 29-year-old doctor and clean-air campaigner, who died in 2023. He had never smoked and lived a healthy lifestyle, exercising, sleeping and eating well, media reported at the time.

“I’m very sensitive when I hear about cancer, especially after the news of the doctor’s death,” says Pathanika Poonchai, who sells food at a school. “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. So I feel, why should I be at risk of getting lung cancer? We should all have clean air.”

Since the end of March, her five-year-old daughter Aerin has had daily nose bleeds – a common symptom for children living with air pollution, say doctors. A particularly heavy nosebleed this month felt like a wake-up call, she says. “Have we just accepted this situation as normal, when this is not how it should be?”

A passenger plane prepares to land at Chiang Mai airport amid heavy pollution. Photograph: Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty

Growing up in picturesque Chiang Mai, she remembers enjoying camping with her family, and sitting outside chatting until evening time – something that is no longer possible during the annual haze season. Instead, her children are kept indoors with air purifiers turned on. The family sets money aside so they can travel to the seaside to escape the dust every year.

“I feel sad, I feel bad that they have to breathe in this polluted air. I know that in the long run, it will definitely have some kind of effect on their health,” she says.

Pathanika Poonchai with her daughters, Aerin, five, and Jinnie, two. Photograph: supplied by Pathanika Poonchai

Some families send their children away to other provinces. Those who have the means to do so install positive pressure systems in their homes to filter the air, though this is extremely costly.

Atikun Limsukon, a doctor specialising in chest and lung care, who runs a private clinic, says his patient caseload has more than doubled over recent weeks. “Even usually healthy people get sick and have acute effects from the very polluted air,” he says, giving a long inventory of possible effects – from blurry vision and even corneal ulcers, to nosebleeds and chronic rhinitis.

Patients with underlying conditions are especially vulnerable. It is depressing, he says, to see people who were previously stable being readmitted, coughing up blood, and requiring oxygen.

“The more air pollution and the longer the time of exposure, there’s going to be more health impacts, both short term and long term,” he adds.

People wear protective masks in Chiang Mai after officials warn of a severe environmental and public health crisis. Photograph: Pongmanat Tasiri/EPA

Limsukon says there is more and more evidence linking pollution not only to cancer, but also strokes, metabolic problems like diabetes and even neurocognitive problems and dementia.

The Clean Air Network is pushing for a Thai Clean Air bill to be pushed into law, which would levy fines against big polluters, with money used to form a Clean Air Fund that will in turn help businesses transition to cleaner technologies. The bill has faced numerous legislative challenges, however, and faces opposition from groups that have labelled it anti-business.

Weenarin says a failure to act will, in fact, be economically damaging.

“Even if you don’t care about the environment, this is the goose that will lay your golden egg,” she says. Tourists travel to Thailand to experience its landscapes and beauty, she adds. “They come for the nature.”