Hat Yai’s economy is still struggling to recover from the devastating November 2025 floods, raising fears that repeated disasters could drive businesses and investment away from the southern Thai tourism hub.Flood risk is rising due to urban expansion, altered drainage, upstream land-use change and increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change.Decades of costly engineering fixes have failed to keep pace, and without major land-use reforms and nature-based solutions, the city risks locking itself into a cycle of worsening floods.This post is an analysis. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Every year, Chinese New Year festivals in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai attract tourists, mostly from neighboring Malaysia, generating a significant proportion of annual income for a city dependent on tourism.
But not this year.
Three months after the November 2025 flood disaster, the new year is being celebrated with continuing cleaning, scrubbing mud from people’s homes and shops, and clearing away piles of water-damaged vehicles, furniture and rotting rubbish. More than 40% of hotels, shops and restaurants remain shut. Some might not reopen at all.
It’s not just about cleaning up and reviving the city with festivals, but convincing businesses and the private sector to stay in the largest economic hub in southern Thailand. The business sector is still reeling from the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns. Somporn Siriporananon, a former vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Songkhla province, where Hat Yai is located, said he’s extremely anxious about the slow recovery.
