Int'l tourists celebrate Chinese New Year in Thailand

THAILAND, February 20 (TNA) - Hundreds of thousands of international tourists, especially those from China, Malaysia and Singapore, are visiting Thailand to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2015, which started earlier this week and formally ends this weekend. In Hat Yai, Thailand's business hub in the southern Songkhla Province bordering Malaysia, more than 25,000 hotel rooms have been fully booked by mostly Malaysian and Singaporean revelers of the Chinese descent, while security has been tightened for their safety. In Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, international tourists, most of whom are Chinese people, are also packed the northern resort city, where they are enjoying tourism-related activities and visiting popular tourist destinations, including rafting, as well as fruit orchards and elephant camps, boosting tourism-related revenues for traders by as much as three times. In nearby Chiang Rai Province, popular tourist destinations, namely Wat Rong Khun or the White Temple, are also crowded by Chinese tourists. Prapon Pattamakijsakul, Director of Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport, projected that about 2.15 million international passengers would use the airport from February 14–26 to celebrate the Year of the Goat in Thailand. (TNA)