Big Songkran festival planned at the heart of Bangkok

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) -- The Tourism and Sports Ministry and the private sector plan a big Songkran celebration venue in an area of 3,000 square metres at the centre of Bangkok. Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said his ministry and the King Power International Group would organise the event at the compound of King Power Co on Rang Nam Road at 11am-8pm on April 10-15. The King Power International Group is Thailand's leading travel retail group and the largest duty-free retailer in the country. The event would happen with the “Explore Endlessly” theme and visitors would be impressed with beautiful Thai lifestyles and cultures, the minister said. According to Mr Weerasak, his ministry will promote activities related to Songkran or Thai New Year with the 5F principle. It refers to Festive, Food, Film, Fashion and Fight. Festive stands for joyful water war activities, Food for delicious and various Thai foods, Film for movies and plays that represent Thai cultures, Fashion for Thai traditional attire and Fight for Muay Thai. Mr Weerasak expected Songkran to make 3 million Thai people travel, up by 12% from the same period last year. The local tourists were likely to spend about 10 billion baht during the festival, up by 15%, he said. He predicted 530,000 foreigners would visit Thailand for Songkran, up 13%, and spend 9.38 billion baht, up 21%. Most visitors during the period in April would be Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, South Korean, German, Australian and British tourists, Mr Weerasak said. (TNA)