Thailand's tourism Revenue during Songkran Festival beats forecast

By APD writer Juicy Chan

**BANGKOK, April 17 (APD) -- **Thailand's tourism continues to heat up with a boom in revenue higher than the previous estimate during the Songkran holidays, the sport and tourism minister said on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has revealed that the country's tourism revenue generated during the Thai new year festival was higher than its previous target of 20 billion baht(600 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 20 percent compared with that of the same period last year.

Veerasuk, the sport and tourism minister added 20% of that money came from the sale of traditional Thai clothes, thanks to a history fever fueled by a popular television soap opera.

Meanwhile, room reservations in secondary cities increased by 60% and 15% more Thais traveled domestically during this period, said the minister.

Kasikorn research center, a Thai think tank expects domestic travel in Thailand in 2018 to continue its boom, driven by various factors such as the government's "Go Local" campaign in promoting 55 secondary provinces and the country's merging interest in Thai culture and history.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)