Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha travelled north to inspect the situation and said after a meeting on the pollution that he had ordered agencies to alleviate the problem within seven days, starting with 1,900 spots across nine provinces, including Chiang Rai.
The government has already given out nearly two million masks to residents in the area, the Prime Minister said. "The smog problem in nine northern provinces is due to agriculture burning in forests, which happens every year," Mr Sate Sampattagul, Head of the Climate Change Data Center at Chiang Mai University, told Reuters.The air pollution has also affected tourist numbers officials said.
Hotel bookings near popular attractions have sharply dropped with tens of thousands of visitors turning to other destinations, one report said.