When haze hit Thailand on 12th of March 2007, flights were disrupted (13 cancelled) and had to be delayed. Tourists normally tend to shun countries with images of smoke and civilians wearing surgical masks, hence resulting in the decline of the tourism rate in the countries affected by the haze. Due to the fact that flights were cancelled, many tourists were left stranded at the airport since they had already checked out of their hotels while locals could still return back to their homes.

Though immediate cancellations were less observed, this showed that people planning for trips may reconsider their holiday destinations. Fewer tourists have visited Thailand, posing a problem towards Thailand’s tourism, and the root of the problem is haze. Should the haze problem be solved, then Thailand’s tourism would not be affected negatively.

An interviewed tourist was very annoyed with the haze situation because there was no sight of the sun after 9 days when he had come to Singapore to enjoy the sun.

In 1997, 13 flights from Singapore were cancelled due to the poor visibility from the haze. In that same year, airports in Malaysia such as West Kalimantan were closed. Also, 9 out of 11 Indonesian airports closed due to the haze. Visibility had worsened to 300 metres. There was even an Indonesian plane crashed which involved the lives of 234 people. The cancelling of flights and closing of airports prevented tourists from coming in to Singapore, causing a fall in tourism.

Clarke Quay

Kranji Nature Trail

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