With no water wars, will anyone come to Pattaya for Songkran? City business leaders hope so.
Damrongkiat Pinitkarn, secretary to the Pattaya Entertainment Venue Association, said March 27 that the city’s tourism industry has had to survive on Thai tourists for the past two years, unlike before when 80% of visitors were foreign.
Most Thais travel to their hometowns, usually in the North or Northeast, during Songkran, so water fights were the only real way to bring people to Pattaya.
That’s not going to happen. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reaffirmed Monday no water splashing will be allowed for Songkran. insisted water would spread Covid-19, despite little evidence to support it.
Pattaya business leaders had argued that outdoor water fights were not a health risk, especially if they imposed unreasonable vaccine and testing restrictions on those who wanted to play.
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