BANGKOK, 15 April 2012 – The Thai tourism authority expects this year’s Songkran holidays will draw more than a million revelers to certain provinces, where the festival is actively celebrated.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Suraphon Svetasreni commented that the Songkran holiday in 2012 will likely turn out to be a very exciting festival, particularly in 13 provinces where the annual Thai New Year tradition is broadly celebrated.
These provinces are Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri, Chon Buri, Samut Prakan, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, Nakhon Phanom, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Songkhla, Phuket and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Mr. Suraphon forecast that as many as 1.4 million people will flock to these provinces to enjoy the festivities, bringing in the Songkran holiday income of around 4.5 billion baht.
According to the TAT governor, out of this, 1.26 million will be Thais and 140,000 others will be foreigners, and both will inject 2.4 billion and 2.17 billion baht worth of tourist income to related provinces this holiday.
In addition, Mr. Suraphon said that the TAT has predicted a total of 6.34 million foreign tourists will end up spending around 53.2 billion baht in Thailand during April 12th-29th
