by Joachim Fischer, Phnom Penh
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will inaugurate the Chinatown Festival and Bangkok Chinese New Year Celebrations on 3 February, 2011, at 1600 hrs, at Chinatown, Yaowarat Road in Bangkok. The official inauguration will be the highlight of a range of lively and colourful Chinese New Year festival activities being organised this year by the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT) together with the Chinese Government, various Thai-Chinese associations, government agencies, and private companies. The events will run during 1-9 February, 2011, in Bangkok and nine provinces nationwide.
This year’s festivities will be extra special because they will commemorate His Majesty the King’s 84th birthday and 36th Anniversary of the Sino-Thai diplomatic relationship. They will showcase the best of Chinese culture and traditions in Thailand and also boost tourism.
TAT Governor Mr. Suraphon Svetasreni said, “Chinese New Year is one of the main festivals in Thailand. TAT and related agencies have worked hard to create a schedule of events that everyone will enjoy, both local people and international visitors.
“For this year, we are expecting over 500,000 people to join these special events, including visitors from China, Asia, and Europe. It is also expected that this event will generate 550 million Bath in expenditure,” added the governor.
Not only does Thailand have deep and historic social, cultural, business, and economic links with China but the People’s Republic is also one of the largest generators of foreign visitors to the country. In 2010, Chinese visitors totalled 1.12 million, up 45% over 2009. Thailand also received 321,120 visitors from Hong Kong (+0.7%), 385,689 visitors from Taiwan (+6.3%) and 579,105 visitors from Singapore (+2.7%).
