THAJEC

2.69 Million Tourist Arrivals Expected for Songkran Festival As many expats and long-term tourists are preparing to leave Pattaya and Thailand specially for Songkran, MCOT reports that "at least 2.69 million tourists will arrive Thailand on 16,000 flights from next week to celebrate the water-splashing Songkran festival, according to the Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT)." More than 22 million foreign tourists visited the country throughout 2012, so an anticipated number of 2.69 million tourist arrivals only for the upcoming Thai new year festival is, to say the least, obviously massive. On the other hand, is it realistic - even if one assumes this number includes Thai nationals returning to Thailand only to spend Songkran with their families? According to the MCOT report, "several airlines" will reportedly increase their number of flights to Bangkok from April 9 to April 18. "Flights via Suvarnabhumi Airport will be boosted from 802 flights/day to 844 flights/day ... Passengers using the airport during Songkran will increase from around 157,000 persons/day to 164,000 persons/day." We'll see rather soon whether these numbers will also result in a boost for the tourism and specifically the entertainment industry?