Over Bt9.1b expected to be changed hands during Songkran Festival in Thailand

BANGKOK, April 10 (TNA) - As millions of people are expected to travel to their hometowns and tourist attractions nationwide during this year's Songkran or Traditional Thai New Year Festival, Kasikorn Research Centre (KRC) has predicted that over 9.1 billion baht should be changed hands during the festivity. The leading private think tank has foreseen that people's spending during the Songkran Festival 2015 should be around 12.5 per cent year-on-year higher than last year. The Bangkok-based research firm also projected that the Thai North should become the most popular destination for Songkran international revelers this year. In the meantime, passengers packed Bangkok’s main Bus Terminal at Mo Chit 2 on Friday, as they were awaiting buses to return to their hometowns for reunion with their families and to enjoy the Songkran Festival. Nopparat Karunyavanich, Acting Managing Director of state-run Transport Co., Ltd., assessed that about 1.2 million people are traveling from April 9–19 and his company has, thus, provided more inter-provincial bus services to serve the rising demand during the period. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) also announced to provide additional 12 trains, with safety measures, to serve people who are traveling from Bangkok to provincial areas, especially those in the North and the Northeast. Many other agencies concerned were also preparing to serve the public during the Songkran Festival, including the Ministry of Interior, medical units and the Royal Thai Police, which has deployed thousands of police officers at major highways and routes nationwide. Meanwhile, the Road Safety Centre, under the Thai Ministry of Interior's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, reported that a total of 25 people died and 348 others were injured in 324 road accidents on April 9 alone, the first day of the seven-day campaign to reduce road accidents countrywide during this year's Songkran Festival, ending April 15. (TNA)