Tourists start arriving Chiang Mai to celebrate Songkran

CHIANG MAI, April 7 (TNA) - Despite high volume of dust particle in the northern capital of Chiang Mai, tourists have started arriving the city to celebrate the annual Songkran festival, or Thailand’s traditional New Year, which officially begins this Saturday. By early Sunday, the volume of dust particle was measured at a school located in the heart of the city at 131 microgrammes/cubic metre, exceeding the safety level of 120 microgrammes/cubic metre and was almost the same as yesterday. Concerned officials have been busying spraying water on streets in Chiang Mai in the past few weeks in an attempt to reduce dust particle levels. However, Wisut Buachum, chief of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Chiang Mai branch, said the situation would not affect tourism in the province as many tourists have started arriving to celebrate Songkran festival. With optimism, Wisut said he projected that not less than 100,000 tourists would visit Chiang Mai during the festival of which 70 per cent of them would be locals and the rest from Asia and Europe. In nearby province of Lampang, the dust particle slightly exceeded the safety level while it stood at the peak level in Mae Hong Son province bordering Myanmar, measuring at 205 microgrammes/cubic metre. Burning forest trees along with bush fires are major causes of smog problem in the North and Northeastern Thailand and the problem normally occurs during summer. (TNA)