Poll:Thais eye New Year celebrations in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Chonburi

BANGKOK, December 28 (TNA) - A number of people have opted to celebrate their New Year in three resort Thai provinces, including Chiang Mai in the Thai North, Phuket in the Thai South and Chonburi in the Thai East. According to a recent survey conducted by the Bangkok-based National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), which was public released on Thursday, 55.99 per cent of a total of 1,247 respondents surveyed nationwide on the random basis, on the topic of "Buying New Year's present and Travelling during New Year", from December 24-25 said they planned to go to other provinces for their New Year celebrations, with Chiang Mai, Phuket and Chonburi being top of their destinations, but 68.89 per cent of them opted not to travel out of their hometowns. The NIDA Poll also found that 53 per cent of those who planned to travel would spend some 6,000 baht each on their trips; while 49.64 per cent of them wanted to buy New Year gifts, compared with 60.26 per cent last year, but 44.99 of them said they would not buy presents this New Year. Meanwhile, the Thai Ministries of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Transport have jointly launched free wireless Internet services at the Mo Chit bus terminal 2 in Bangkok to first serve New Year travelers and at the Sathon pier, with an official target to expand the WIFI services at all bus terminals and piers across the country, turning them to become "smart stations and piers" by next year and over the next five years respectively. (TNA)