The Office of Thailand in Thailand expects the upcoming Songkran festival in the country to generate more tourism income than last year, despite the forecasts that the earthquake of March 28 weakened tourists to the Kingdom.
Earthquake with a 7.7 strength in the amount, which was an epicenter in the neighboring Burma, caused the collapse of the building near the famous Chatuchak market in Bangkok, asking questions about Thailand skyscraper safety.
Despite this, Thailand Tourism Office, in the published press message ThursdayHe said that a multi-day festival event in mid-April-the greatest in the country-generousing 26.5 billion Thai Baht ($ 763 million) of tourism revenues, which is an increase of 8% year-on-year.
From this estimated 7.3 billion Baht comes from about 476,000 international arrivals, according to the message.
Thailand The Ministry of Tourism has also doubled from the forecast of foreign arrival at 2025, and about 38 million visitors are expected to come this year, According to Reuters.
According to the report, the Minister of Tourism and Sport in the country said that at least over 1,000 hotel rooms were canceled in the direct consequence of the earthquake, according to the report, the influence of natural disaster on tourism would be short -term nature.
However, Thai Hotels Association said that he expected the earthquake to affect the “atmosphere of tourism” during the Songkran Festival 2025, in accordance with the translation of Google Local Media Report Association related on its Facebook page.
An event, which is characterized by joyful splashing of water on the streets throughout the country, can be “even more abandoned than in the last two years”, in accordance with the report, in which it was found that the association expects a decrease in at least 10% -15% of tourism income within two weeks after the quake, after returning to a normal two weeks.
“The fall of the building in the Chatuchak region has become a viral online, asking questions about security in Thailand. Therefore, it is very important to urgently build trust among tourists during this year's Songkran festival,” said the report.
Hurry up to alleviate the fears
Immediately after the earthquake, Thai officials rushed at tourist fears.
In a joint statement after the Thai eccuscias, submitted by the Thai sectors of real estate and finance, chairman of the non-profit federation of the Thai industry, Kriengkrai Thienkunkul said: “Thailand remains a safe destination, and state officials maintain in terms of monitoring of conditions, introducing comprehensive building safety inspections and providing support for the aforementioned Earth's thing. “
IN the same statementThe President of the Regulatory Council of Thailand engineers said: “All studies examined show resistance to an earthquake because they were designed in accordance with the current standards of seismic engineering.”
Lebua's Rooftop Sky Bar, which appeared in the movie “The Hangover 2”, is on the 64th floor of Bangkok State Tower.
Reuters Soe Zeya Tun
Despite this, some hotels reached guests and staff directly to calm the fears of the integrity of their buildings.
Narwadee Balerte, president and general director of Lebua Hotellets & Resorts, issued a statement that was found that its location in the Bangkok State Tower was checked and “engineers confirmed that the earthquake did not affect the structural integrity of the building.”
“From today, our site will be updated daily about real-time security updates … You will also find engineering reports, details of the historical structure and visual documentation showing how Lebua was originally built to withstand both wind loads and seismic activity,” she said.
Thailand has been trying to dwell with Chinese travelers for years – But for another reason. The fictitious Chinese film from 2023 “No More Bets” presented a Chinese couple lured by Humaninga from Southeast Asia – a fictitious story line, which reflected a real life when actor Wang Xing was kidnapped in Thailand in January.
Will remain a course
Singaporek Morgan Aawyong was in a restaurant in the Chinatown district in Bangkok, when the earthquake hit.
“The water in the cups moved, and all ceiling lights swayed,” he said. “Outside … The birds were flying away, the dogs barked, and one after the other there were neighborly alarms.”
He said that office buildings and shops closed, like his hotel, to carry out building inspections. He added that he got a foot massage and returned to the hotel when he was open again.
He said that the friends he traveled with: “He did not change his plans at all, especially when most of the services resumed the next day.”
Thai hotel industry hopes that others follow this because the country wins attention and reservations stimulated in season 3 hit HBO “The White Lotus”, shot mainly in Koh Samui.
It is also expected that this year the country will attract more visitors Legalization of marriages of the same sex in Januarywhich is to establish a country as a regional wedding place for homosexual couples.
According to the World Bank in 2024, the country was satisfied with about 35 million international tourists – about 5 million below the numbers 2019.
– Bella Stoddart from CNBC contributed to this report.