The Tourism Authority of Thailand has high hopes for this Chinese New Year weekend in Pattaya.
Pattaya office Director Suladda Sarutilavan predicted Feb. 8 that TAT’s organized “Year of the Dog” celebrations in the city, as well as a dozen other tourist hotspots in the kingdom, would generate more than 600 million baht. It doesn’t hurt that Valentine’s Day is two days before the Feb. 16 new year.
Pattaya’s main event will be held at the Ambassador City Hotel in Jomtien Beach on Feb. 19 with more than 200 Chinese acrobats and arts performers slated to take the stage.
She said hotel bookings in Chonburi already are at 75 percent, although most are Thai tourists, 114,700 of them.
As with the Irish and St. Patrick’s Day, all Thais are Chinese on New Year’s, which gets celebrated for up to three days. So TAT is expecting a big weekend, she said.
