During the five-day Songkran holiday, which will take place from April 13 to 17, 2023, nearly 40,000 tourists are expected to visit Trat province. About 30,000 Thai tourists and 10,000 tourists from other countries will be among them.
Passarin Sawettanan, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Trat Office, said that this group of tourists will stay about 3 nights and spend 3,000 to 4,000 baht daily. They will visit the three main islands of Trat province, namely Koh Chang, Koh Kood and Koh Mak.
This will contribute significantly to the province’s revenue, bringing in over 300 million baht (8.7 million U.S.dollars) during the festival’s short 3 to 4 days. This is seen as a significant boost to the economy of Trat.
Many tourists also travel to the 3 main islands on weekends, a good opportunity for the province and business owners to increase their revenue. Since the beginning of the year, hundreds of thousands of tourists have visited Trat province for tourism purposes. This trend is expected to continue, especially during long holiday weekends such as Songkran.
Passarin added that at the same time, Trat’s TAT office has organized additional activities on the mainland in the Mueang Trat district to promote tourism in the region and attract more visitors to the province, resulting in more revenue for mainland tourist attractions and accommodation.
During April 11-13, 2023, the Nong Samet Municipality, Tourism Industry Association of Trat Province, Trat Provincial Tourism Authority, Trat Provincial Commerce Office, and Nong Samet Subdistrict Municipality joined together to organize a Songkran festival at the Chao Phraya Dam in Trat Province to attract tourists to visit the area.
Meanwhile, Saksit Mungkarn, acting chairman of the Tourism Industry Association of Trat Province, said that in March and April 2023, many tourists travelled to Koh Chang, Koh Kood and Trat Province, especially during weekends and long holidays. Both group and individual tourists came, and during the Songkran festival, many hotel rooms were already fully booked. The number of foreign tourists has also increased.