Thai elephant park faces sharp visitor decline as Middle East war remains uncertain

Under the midday sun at Chiang Mai’s Maetaeng Elephant Park, elephants perform familiar routines — spinning rings with their trunks and carefully painting strokes with brushes.

Just a month ago, the shows drew hundreds of visitors to the park in northern Thailand. On Tuesday (April 7), only a handful of people sat on the arena’s benches.

Watching from the edge of the ring, park owner Borpit Chailert said ticket revenue has slumped since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which triggered a global fuel crisis, grounded flights and dampened tourism. Takings now average about 5,000 baht ($156) per show, down from around 20,000 baht ($623) previously, he said.

“The number of tourists dropped by 50% and it caused us a lot of problems,” Chailert told Reuters.

The park’s popular “Hugging Elephant” programme — which allows visitors to feed, photograph and bathe with the animals — once welcomed hundreds of guests each day. On Tuesday, it hosted just one Canadian family of three in Chiang Mai on business, who had not planned to visit the park.

“I’m sure it’s going to affect tourism in a negative way,” said Canadian visitor Peter Vaughan. “People are going to be apprehensive about travelling because anything could happen while they’re gone.”

Across the quiet grounds, mahouts — traditional elephant handlers bonded to a single animal — wait atop their elephants. Where each animal once carried visitors into the forest up to six times a day, only a few now make two or three trips.

To cope, Chailert said more than 200 staff have agreed to take 10 unpaid days off each month to cut costs, allowing the park to prioritise feeding its 68 elephants four meals a day.

The downturn extends beyond the elephant camp. Hotels, restaurants and tour operators across Chiang Mai have also been hit as visitor numbers fall, according to the Chiang Mai Tourism Association.

“We have seen significantly fewer tourists compared with the same period last year,” said association president Supamit Kitjapipat.

At Maetaeng, the gates remain open. The mahouts stay with their elephants, the river still flows for afternoon baths, and daily routines continue — as the park waits for the crowds and applause to return.

-Zaw Naing Oo/Reuters