TAT Promotes Songkran at Travel Trade Show in India

More than 40 Thai exhibitors are at the Amazing Thailand pavilion of SATTE 2014, being held between 29-31 January 2014.

SATTE in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, is one of India’s leading travel trade shows, and is attended by hundreds of trade buyers and sellers from around the world.

During the three-day show, the Amazing Thailand pavilion will host demonstrations of umbrella painting from San Kamphaeng district in Chiang Mai, as well as fruit and vegetable carving.

Expect to get wet during Songkran! Click to Enlarge. More: Pictures from Songkran.

On the last day (31 January) the famous Songkran Festival will be highlighted with tour operators and hotels offering special packages to give Indian visitors a chance to experience this unique Thai water carnival which takes place annually between 12 and 15/17 April.

The Songkran Festival is a fun-filled national celebration that pays tribute to the role of water in the Thai social, cultural, economic and spiritual life.

Marked during the peak of the summer heat wave, Songkran not only includes the annual bathing of Buddha images at temples and homes across the country, but has also become famous as an enormous water fight that attracts people from around the world!

This year, the Royal Thai Government has announced 13-15 April, 2014, as the Songkran holiday so the Thai people will have a long holiday from 12-16 April, 2014, (including the weekend).

India is today the biggest source market for visitors from South Asia, and one of Thailand’s fastest growing source markets.

In 2013, Indian visitors to Thailand totalled 1,049,856, up 3.61% over 2012; it is one of seven countries generating more than one-million arrivals.

TAT is expecting 1,070,000 Indian visitors to Thailand and generating 45.8 billion Baht for tourism revenue in 2014.

Indian leisure travellers generally go shopping and sightseeing in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, and Ko Samui, with an increasing number also heading to Krabi, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, and Kanchanaburi. Recent years have also shown a marked rise in the number of Indian weddings and golfers visiting the Kingdom.

TAT is expecting that Indian arrivals across all customer and market segments will grow exponentially in future, as the free trade agreements between India and ASEAN are implemented and make progress. If business and MICE travel booms, the tourist traffic is not far behind.

Ms. Runjuan Tongrut, Director, TAT New Delhi Office said, “With Thailand having welcomed over 1 million Indian tourists for 2 consecutive years, on behalf of the Thai people, I would like to say a million thanks again to Indian travellers, travel trade partners and media for their support and confidence in Thailand as always.”

See also: Pictures of Songkran on Silom Road, Bangkok, Thailand.