Booking of hotel rooms high in key Thai tourist destinations

BANGKOK, April 7 (TNA) - The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has projected that tourists visiting Thailand to celebrate the upcoming Songkran festival would be active while booking for hotel rooms in key tourism cities now stand at about 70 per cent. Positive political climate along with signs of bullish economy in Thailand are also luring the locals to start travelling during the annual Songkran festival, or Thailand’s traditional New Year, while TAT forecasts that hotel room booking in key tourism destinations including Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya and Hat Yai by tourists to celebrate the festival between April 12-16 would not be less than 70 per cent of the total. Statistics showed that about 1.23 million tourists arrived at Suvarnabhumi International Airport between March 1-27, an increase of 11.93 per cent from the corresponding period last year. It is estimated that the number of tourists visiting the kingdom in April would increase further as 177 chartered flights from China, Russia and Malaysia -- Thailand’s key tourism markets – will arrive during the festival. Although the celebrations for the festival are six days away, the tourism atmosphere is already seen active at Bangkok’s Grand Palace and the adjoining the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, considered significant tourism destinations in the capital. Many coaches carried Chinese and German tourists are seen parked near them. Ta Kumboonsa, a guide for Chinese tourists, said more Chinese tourists are visiting Thailand this year following the recently screening of a Chinese movie entitled ‘Lost in Thailand’ which was shot almost entirely in Thailand. The movie was a big hit in China. A German-speaking guide Charoen Prasertsung opined that he had brought German tourists to visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha after they had visited Pattaya. The tourists will later cruise along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Charoen said he believed more German tourists are expected to visit Thailand this year as they escape chilly weather in their country. Many of them plan to continue staying in Thailand to celebrate Songkran festival. (TNA)