26-10-2011
The government has issued a Red Travel Alert for Thailand because of the serious flooding affecting the country.
Travellers are being advised to avoid affected areas, including the capital, Bangkok, unless necessary.
The Travel Industry Council has cancelled all tours to Thailand for a week.
Its executive director, Joseph Tung, said he believed 52 tours involving about 1,500 people would be affected.
He said tourists should contact their travel agents to arrange alternative dates, or refunds. Mr Tung said more than 1,200 Hong Kong tourists were currently in Thailand, but had not been affected by the floods.
Meanwhile all flights have been suspended at Bangkok's second airport as flood waters continue to spill into the city from surrounding areas.
The floods breached defences around the perimeter of Don Muang airport in the northern suburbs.
Flights are operating normally at Bangkok's main international airport.
BANGKOK'S second airport has shut down as floodwaters advanced into the Thai capital, forcing authorities in "crisis mode" to declare a five-day public holiday in preparation for the deluge.
The cabinet ordered an October 27-31 holiday for Bangkok and 20 other provinces affected by the kingdom's worst flooding in decades, amid warnings a high tide would surge up the capital's main river and escalate the disaster.
"The government has switched to a crisis mode as a massive run-off will arrive in the capital on October 26, coinciding with a high tide on October 28," the Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC) said in a statement.
In a televised address to the kingdom late Tuesday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra gave a stark prediction of the potential impact of the flooding, saying the water was "at full force, which is more than the barriers can hold".
She said it was "highly likely" that all of Bangkok, including the inner zone, would flood, with a "worst case scenario" seeing water levels of up to 1.5 metres in some part