Hotels in Hat Yai are facing slower advance bookings for November and December 2026, the Bangkok Post reported, as visitors remain cautious after severe flooding hit the southern Thai city in 2025.
Dr. Sitthipong Sitthiphataraprabha, president of the Hat Yai Songkhla Hotels Association, told the newspaper that hotels usually have 30% to 50% of bookings for those months secured by late October. The association expected average occupancy to reach 60% by the end of October, below the level recorded a year earlier.
The Bangkok Post reported that promotions and flexible booking policies have not yet brought a substantial return of visitors from Malaysia and Singapore. Songchai Mungprasithichai, president of the Songkhla Tourism Promotion Association, told the newspaper that business was strong during October’s midmonth Vegetarian Festival before hotel bookings declined. The newspaper also reported that some smaller businesses have not reopened after the floods because they lack funds.
The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) recorded torrential rain in Hat Yai, Kho Hong and Sadao districts from Nov. 21-25, 2025, and said Hat Yai experienced severe flooding. The department linked the rainfall to a northeast monsoon and a low-pressure cell over the lower Gulf of Thailand and the southern region.
Thaiwater says Hat Yai’s basin terrain directs runoff from several directions toward lower ground. During the 2025 floods, the U-Taphao Canal reached 9.97 meters above mean sea level, exceeding the previous highs recorded there in 2000 and 2010.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said on Dec. 8, 2025, that floodwaters had receded and most hotels in Hat Yai and Songkhla had resumed normal operations. The Bangkok Post reported that tourism operators are urging the government to invest in long-term water-management infrastructure.
