Owner of Pattaya water gun shop loses millions of baht in last three years of dry Songkrans, expresses frustration

Bang Lamung –

  The owner of a variety shop at Old Lan Pho market spoke to TPN media yesterday and stated that she has lost several million baht due to the regulations of no water-playing and splashing for the past three years.

Due to Covid-19 concerns, Thailand’s famous water fights and splashing, the most popular -but also controversial – part of the festival have been banned since April 2020 by the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, which manages Covid-19 restrictions and rules for the country.

Yesterday, April 15th, local reporters with The Pattaya News visited the Old Lan Pho market in Naklua to interview Mrs. Jeam Lianghirunkul, who owns one of the largest variety and hobby shops in Bang Lamung and is also the largest provider of water guns in Pattaya, especially for wholesale. 

Pirior to the pandemic, Mrs. Jeam said that many street vendors from Bangsaen, Sriracha, Sattahip, etc usually came to buy products such as water guns, powder, and waterproof phone cases from her shop to prepare for Songkran. But in the last three years, she had to entirely stop stocking these items because of the CCSA regulations of the water-fight bans and a sole allowance of traditional and religious practices, resulting in several millions lost in revenue.

Mrs. Jeam continued that the products on display now were just her old unsold products from the previous years. She wished that the government would at least allow water-fights such as playing with water guns because it was an individual item, and the business would be able to move on. However, she also accepted the regulations and prayed for Covid-19 to disappear.

For now, she is hopeful that after what will be a four-year absence, the water fights can return in 2023 and has predicted that if all restrictions are lifted it will be one of the biggest Songkran’s ever. That being said, TPN media notes that many of our readers, especially older ex-pats, could go “without” the water splashing portion of the water festival. Many readers have expressed relief on our social media channels (below) in the ban on water throwing, although also admitted that the water splashing does attract many tourists and is certainly good for some business sectors.

Regardless, Pattaya has been busy for the entire week of Songkran, mostly with domestic tourists, without the water fights, with traffic in Jomtien and Pattaya the heaviest since 2020, TPN media concludes.

The national Songkran days have finished, which were April 13th-April 15th. Chonburi has events until April 20th, but none of them will include water fights. The traditional “big day” on April 19th, which can attract hundreds of thousands, has been canceled entirely for the third year in a row and replaced with traditional religious events at local temples.

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Aim Tanakorn
The local news translator at The Pattaya News. Aim is a twenty-four year old who currently lives in Bangkok. Interested in English translation, story-telling, and entrepreneurship, he believes that hard-working is an indispensable component of every success in this world.