INSIDE:

NEWS/STORIES/ARTICLES
Book Reviews
Columns/Opinion/Cartoon
Films
Covid Information
International
National
NW/Local
Recipes
Special A.C.E. Stories
Sports
Online Paper (PDF)

CLASSIFIED SECTION
Bids & Public Notices
NW Job Market

NW RESOURCE GUIDE
Consulates
Organizations
Scholarships
Special Sections

Asian Reporter Info

About Us

Advertising Info.

Contact Us
Subscription Info. & Back Issues

FOLLOW US
Facebook

Twitter

ASIA LINKS
Currency Exchange
Time Zones
More Asian Links
 

Copyright © 1990 - 2023
AR Home

International News

MAKING A SPLASH. A family celebrates the Songkran festival in Prachinburi Province, east of Bangkok, on April 13, 2023. Hordes of revellers toted colorful water guns as Thailand kicked off its exuberant three-day Songkran festival at full blast for the first time since 2019, hoping to boost tourism after the industry was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A man sprays water at a police officer to celebrate the Songkran festival in Prachinburi Province, east of Bangkok, on April 13, 2023, Hordes of revellers toted colorful water guns as Thailand kicked off its exuberant three-day Songkran festival at full blast for the first time since 2019. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

Revellers take part in a water fight to celebrate the Songkran festival in Hong Kong, on April 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Revellers take part in a water fight to celebrate the Songkran festival in Hong Kong, on April 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

From The Asian Reporter, V33, #5 (May 1, 2023), page 3.

Thailand celebrates Songkran with first splashes since 2019

BANGKOK (AP) — Hordes of revellers toted colorful water guns when Thailand kicked off its exuberant three-day Songkran festival at full blast for the first time since 2019.

The New Year celebration’s signature water fighting — a major draw for tourists — had been banned or discouraged since 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and its full-scale return was widely promoted. In Bangkok alone, there were 40 designated spots this year for public water splashing, including the touristy Khao San Road where vendors hawked food, clothes, and water-fighting gear in the scorching heat.

The festival, which is also celebrated in neighboring Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, falls at the hottest time of the year when temperatures can creep above 104º Fahrenheit.

While many tourists and locals congregate in the capital, millions of workers head home to rural provinces to see family and celebrate by cleansing images of the Buddha for luck, throwing water on each other, and washing the hands and feet of elders to pay respect and ask for a blessing.

Police geared up for the "Seven Dangerous Days" — taking into account the travel days on either end of Songkran — during which traffic-related casualties spike in a country where road traffic death rates ranked No. 9 worldwide in the World Health Organization’s 2018 road safety report. Many accidents involve drunk driving, and motorcyclists account for a large number of the deaths.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand projected this year’s Songkran festival would help generate more than 18 billion baht ($530 million) in revenue and bring in more than 300,000 international travellers for the holiday week — a 525% increase over the same period in 2022, but just 58% of 2019’s number from before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Although the country gradually eased up travel restrictions before fully reopening in October, local entrepreneurs remain concerned about the pace of the recovery.

Thailand received about 40 million international visitors in 2019. That number decreased sharply to 6.7 million in 2020 and fewer than 500,000 in 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

* * *