Destinations known | Forget Phuket and give Bangkok a wide berth – try Thailand’s secondary destinations instead

To relieve pressure on its most popular visitor attractions, the country is promoting 55 alternative places to go; meanwhile, Crazy Rich Asians film has stoked interest in visiting Singapore

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A waterfront village in Thailand's easternmost Trat province, one of 55 “secondary destinations” the country’s tourism authority is promoting to relieve pressure on places such as Phuket and Bangkok. Picture: Shutterstock

Mercedes Hutton

Published: 8:31am, 26 Sep 2018Updated: 8:31am, 26 Sep 2018

Venice has reached saturation point. No, the Italian city has not sunk beneath the rising waters (yet), rather it is flooded with tourists. So much so that mayor Luigi Brugnaro has suggested implementing a ban on sitting, to stop visitors from making themselves at home along the banks of La Serenissima’s canals, according to a September 19 article in British newspaper The Guardian.

This follows hot on the heels of eating being outlawed on certain streets in fellow Italian honeypot Florence, and countless other anti-tourism measures put in place across the globe, including the much discussed closure of popular destinations in the Philippines and Thailand.

Now, as if finally realising that the responsibility for overtourism does not lie exclusively with the end user but is, in fact, the confluence of a number of factors (the travel industry and the media included), officials and organisations are beginning to act positively.

On September 18, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announced that it would be partnering with the Expedia Group to promote 55 “secondary destinations”, hoping to take the pressure off the likes of Bangkok and Phuket. According to figures published in a 2017 report by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, “international tourists only visit the south and Bangkok”.

Citing 2015 statistics, the report states that the southern region – which includes Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Hua Hin, Koh Tao and Phuket – welcomed more than 23 million international arrivals, or 77 per cent of the national total. In comparison, only 1.4 million travellers, a mere 5 per cent, went north. No wonder Maya Bay couldn’t cope.

So where should you now go? Well, why not give Lopburi a go. Also known as “Monkey City”, for its rambunctious population of simians, Lopburi is a two-hour train ride or drive north of Bangkok. One of Thailand’s oldest cities, it is often offered as a day trip from the capital, but is worth a weekend, at least, on account of the stunning surroundings and its Khmer temples.