National—
On February 8th, 2024, Ms. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), gave a statement on a preparatory meeting for the World Songkran Festival in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Interior, the private sector, and relevant agencies. The meeting is scheduled to take place next week.
The preparatory meeting would discuss activity plans, locations, and budgets. The World Songkran Festival aimed to generate income worth more than the pre-pandemic period in 2019, according to Thapanee.
The highlight destinations in Bangkok are planned to be Ratchadamnoen Road, Siam Square, ICONSIAM, Asiatique, and the Chao Phraya River.
Other popular tourist destinations in other provinces such as Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Hat Yai, would have a midnight Songkran theme to attract foreign tourists, especially Malaysian ones. However, the World Songkran Festival will be held in 76 provinces across Thailand and 50 districts in Bangkok, according to Thapanee.
Thapanee further added that the World Songkran Festival is another big tourism event after the Chinese New Year Celebration with an estimated 177,000 Chinese tourists visiting during the long holidays. However, more than 28,000 Chinese tourists visited Thailand on February 5th, 2024, which was a similar number compared to 2019.
Thapanee aimed to surge the number of tourists up to 100,000 individuals per day and by the end of 2024, the estimated number of total tourists would be 36.5 million. At present, the recovery of the foreign tourist market is considered to be a good cause for Thailand’s tourism and domestic tourism markets.
However, an increasing number of Thai people showed that they preferred to travel in short distances by personal vehicles. Private sectors should follow the trend by adapting a mixed-use concept to their business with a unique identity. For example, a hotel has a co-working space and restaurant, especially for delivery services, Thapanee stated.
