The demonstrations set for April 2 in Bangkok and other top tourist destinations including Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket reflect deepening concern about the impact of political turmoil on the vital tourism sector.

“We don’t want to create mob against mob, but we want the political sector to hear our voice,” said Charoen Wangananont, president of Thai Travel Agent Association.

Thailand’s tourism industry has been hit hard by the Red Shirt protests by supporters of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra seeking to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call snap elections.

The industry has suffered billions of dollars of financial losses in the past few years because of political unrest and foreign visitor arrivals are down 20-30 percent from last year, according to sector officials.

On April 1, six people were shot dead by suspected militants and 10 police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb in the latest attacks in Thailand’s restive south.

Police were responding to a report of a number of villagers killed in the Bacho district of Narathiwat province when their vehicle was struck by the blast. Six villagers who had been out hunting were later found shot dead by suspected militants.

A six-year separatist insurgency in Thailand’s restive Muslim-majority southern provinces bordering Malaysia has left more than 4,000 people dead and thousands more wounded.