Ahead of the celebration of the traditional Thai New Year, Songkran, in April 2024, the country's leadership has announced ambitious plans to transform the holiday into a month-long international festival. This decision is dictated by the desire to strengthen Thailand's "soft power" on the world stage and attract the flow of foreign tourists to the country.
Grand events across the country
According to the plan approved by the National Soft Power Strategy Committee, official festivities will be held in Bangkok's main streets with the support of famous Thai and foreign musical groups. In addition, a diverse cultural program will be implemented in each of the kingdom's 77 provinces, taking into account local traditions.
Special attention will be paid to the creation of new jobs for representatives of creative professions and the tourism sector. Educational courses will also be organized for local residents on planning and holding large-scale events.
For the convenience of guests and to stimulate domestic tourism, a mobile application will also be launched with information about all activities within the New Year celebrations.
Ambitious goals and investments
The initiators of the project expect that the realization of grandiose plans to transform the format of the traditional holiday will make it possible to achieve an ambitious goal - to enter the top ten most popular festivals in the world. This will mean a huge increase in tourist traffic to Thailand and an inflow of funds into the economy.
To realize the plan, the government has allocated an unprecedented budget of 5 billion baht. These funds will be used to organize entertainment events, promote national cuisine, develop tourist routes, support creative arts and other purposes.
Environmentalists and economists are concerned
However, such large-scale plans of the authorities are also met with criticism from some experts. In particular, representatives of environmental organizations point to the risk of excessive use of water resources nationwide.
Economists also fear that the excessive stretching of the festivities will "dilute" the value of the event for tourists. In their opinion, in this case, the experience of major world-class sporting events, which are traditionally held only once every few years and are limited in time, is applicable.
Author of the article: Ekaterina Antonova
