Mueang district, Chonburi —
Monkey food vendors at Khao Sam Muk mountain have begged tourists not to be anxious about monkeypox as their sales have dropped by nearly 90 percent, according to them.
Tuesday, May 31st, the local media reported a dull tourism atmosphere at Khao Sam Muk mountain in the Saensuk sub-district, Mueang district, Chonburi, supposedly due to the fear of monkeypox that some thought might have spread from the monkeys inhabiting the mountain, despite that the Chonburi Pulic Relations has not reported any cases of monkeypox infection in Thailand yet and that cases of monkeypox reported in other countries did not seem to be originating from actual monkeys.
However, the fear is already affecting some of the local monkey food vendors, according to them.
One female local monkey food vendor on Khao Sam Muk (name and age not provided) told the local media that Khao Sam Muk was usually one of the main tourist attractions for tourists to come and feed the monkeys after visiting Bang Saen Beach. But now, most tourists were gone, supposedly due to the fear of monkeypox, the vendor said. She begged tourists to return and not to be anxious about the disease because her sales had sunk by nearly 90 percent last week. She reminded the public not a single case of monkeypox had been found directly in Thailand.
“Please don’t be anxious about the disease because there are no infection reports yet. The monkeys on Khao Sam Muk are tiny, friendly, and disease-free”, the vendor said.
She also asked the relevant authorities to educate people about the disease to dispel their doubts because the monkeys may starve without the tourists.
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