Top National Thailand Stories From the Past Week: China allows group tours, Eleven killed in van crash, and more

By
Goongnang Suksawat
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Here is a look at the top NATIONAL Thailand stories, chosen by our Pattaya News/TPN National team, from last week, Monday, January 16th, 2023, to Sunday, January 22nd, 2023. They are not in any particular level of importance but are listed in the order of date of publication.

Let’s get started and see what the top stories were!

  1. An oil tanker capable of storing 3 million liters of oil exploded and caught fire while docking in Samut Songkham province at 9:30 AM on January 17th.

An explosion that happened on board an oil tanker docked on the Mae Klong river in Samut Songkram’s Mueng district on January 17th, has caused eight confirmed casualties so far.

2. The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has reported a stronger-than-expected recovery for the global tourism economy and predicted that global tourism will rebound to pre-pandemic levels in 2023.

Around 917 million tourists, or double from 2021, traveled internationally but this was still 63% of the pre-pandemic level in 2019, according to UNWTO data.

3. After three years of travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, China has dropped a restriction on group tours to Thailand and 19 other countries as of Friday, January 20th, 2023 in a sudden announcement.

The news will be warmly welcomed by the travel industry in Thailand, although some local residents have already been seen on social media complaining about possible future traffic problems.

4. The Thai national police chief has ordered a police inspector-general to look into an allegation made by a Chinese tourist that she paid Thai police officers to provide her “VVIP’’ services when she arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport.

A Chinese woman who went by the name ”choudan0302″ on the Douyin App, a Chinese version of Tiktok, posted a video clip of her and men who seemingly looked like Thai police officers at the airport.

5. Eleven people, including two children, were burned to death after the minivan they were riding in crashed into an irrigation ditch on January 21st in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The sole survivor of the accident remains in a hospital.

And, that is all for this week. Thank you as always for reading the Pattaya News/TPN News!

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Goongnang Suksawat
Goongnang Suksawat
Goong Nang is a News Translator who has worked professionally for multiple news organizations in Thailand for many years and has worked with The Pattaya News for five years. Specializes primarily in local news for Phuket, Pattaya, and also some national news, with emphasis on translation between Thai to English and working as an intermediary between reporters and English-speaking writers. Originally from Nakhon Si Thammarat, but lives in Phuket and Krabi except when commuting between the three.