Thailand’s Surat Thani province expects over 90,000 tourists during Songkran

Get ready for a blast of Songkran tourism coming up in Thailand!

Thailand’s Surat Thani province is expecting to welcome more than 90,000 tourists during the upcoming Songkran festival period. According to the Surat Thani Governor, Vichawut Jintoe, over 67,000 foreign tourists and 23,000 Thai tourists are expected to visit the southern province from April 13 to 16.

Surat Thani is home to the famous paradise islands of Koh Samui and Koh Tao. The tourism industry is a significant contributor to Surat Thani’s economy. The governor estimates that during the festival, Surat Thani and Samui Island will generate around 1.2 billion baht in tourist revenue, The Phuket Express reported.

The Songkran Festival is a traditional Thai New Year celebration, which is marked by a water festival. It is a time when people come together to splash water on one another to symbolise the washing away of the previous year’s misfortunes and the start of a new year.

Songkran is a three-day festival that takes place from April 13 to 15, but the festivities often continue for a week or more in some areas. During the festival, people use water guns, buckets, and hoses to soak anyone in sight.

The number of tourists that visited Surat Thani last year jumped by over 600% from 2021, according to officials. In February, Governor Vichawut cited the Tourism and Sports Ministry, saying the province saw 3,690,642 tourists last year, a 666% increase from the previous year. Witchawut said there was a tourism revenue of 27.66 billion baht in Surat Thani last year, a 912.04% jump from 2021

The tourism sector in Surat Thani has been boosted by several initiatives to attract visitors, including the development of infrastructure and facilities.

In January, officials started giving Koh Samui’s Fisherman’s Village a makeover to help businesses catch more tourists. They started sprucing up Beach Road in Bo Phut with landscape improvements, and general cleaning. The goal of the makeover is to reel in up to 5 million baht of cash for local street vendors.