As of yesterday, March 13th, 2022, we have roughly thirty days until Thailand’s biggest holiday, the Thai New Year, Songkran, also referred to as the water festival.
Unsurprisingly, after a month of delayed meetings and announcements the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, which runs the Covid19 related restrictions and rules for the country, has yet to officially announce the guidelines and rules for the festival.
That will change this Friday, March 18th, when the CCSA, led by Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, has stated they will finally address the festival only four weeks away.
In 2020 the festival, normally marked by parties, parades, street vendors, shows, and of course water fights, was completely canceled due to Covid-19. This included even the religious and ceremonial events that are the heart of the festival and all travel was banned. There was also a total alcohol sales ban, which was to say the least very unpopular but designed to stop gatherings and parties.
In 2021 travel was permitted and small religious and ceremonial events were allowed but once again all parties, water fights, parades, fireworks, festivals, shows, and “fun” events were banned by the CCSA due to Covid-19 concerns.
Thailand has not seen a true Songkran since 2019 and the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha stated last week that all activities would be allowed, especially travel and family gatherings, with rules and guidelines to be announced this upcoming Friday.
What “all activities allowed” will mean in reality will be up for debate. The business and tourism sector strongly supports as close to a normal Songkran as possible, including fun events, but some doctors with the CCSA have already cautioned against this.
Granted, last year very little of the population was vaccinated and the current strain of Omicron, which appears milder for most people with Chonburi alone recording 99.3 percent of people mild or asymptomatic, was not around. Tourism areas where the biggest celebrations normally take place are heavily vaccinated, with Pattaya over 90 percent according to the mayor Sonthaya Khunpluem. This is a major difference from 2021 and would seem to support not canning everything.
The mayor, well aware he is up for election in May, has also hinted the city supports relaxations for the festival, within reason. The city recently had to postpone the music festival planned for all of this month which angered many business owners, hotel operators, and vendors across the city whose business has suffered as a result. This decision, we note, was strongly pushed by the CCSA weeks ago before the messaging started to change to living with Covid19 and treating it as endemic.
The CCSA, however, does have legitimate concerns to be fair. Rural provinces, especially in Issan in the Northeast, are nowhere near as vaccinated as tourism areas. The Ministry of Public Health estimated that 2 million elderly and vulnerable people remain unvaccinated/boosted in Thailand and has stressed they are currently on a mission to invite as many as possible to be vaccinated before Songkran and when many family members will come home.
Tourism areas like Pattaya have become used to hundreds, if not thousands, of daily cases, and being heavily vaccinated most have become “used” to Covid. Quite frankly many have had it already locally. However, as the CCSA has reminded the public, rural areas were mostly spared covid cases until recently as Omicron has soared which is a major reason many people in these areas didn’t feel the sense of urgency to get vaccinated. Fear of Covid, although rare in tourism hotspots, is still common in rural provinces.
As a result, the CCSA now has some difficult decisions to make with Thailand’s most popular holiday just weeks away and the medical and business sector at odds on how to proceed. And yes, readers, we are aware many ex-pats dislike the festival and won’t be bothered if it is canceled for another year.
Earlier today, however, March 14th, the office of the Prime Minister stated that this week’s meeting would indeed focus on moving towards treating Covid19 as endemic and easing and loosening restrictions versus more cancelations and suspensions of events and holidays.
It is still unclear what that will look like but this week’s meeting will be one to watch not just for Songkran announcements but for major clues as to if Thailand is truly ready to live with Covid and moving down that path like many western countries have done or move cautiously and slower like some Asian countries.
Treat this week’s meeting as not just another reading of rules and guidelines but as a trial of how we move forward. It should be interesting and as always we will be there to cover it Friday afternoon.
Have a great week Pattaya.
Adam Judd
Co owner, TPN media
