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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Watch out for Songkran: Thailand gearing up for the New Year

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More than five million people in Thailand will travel this week to celebrate the traditional new year, the Songkran festival.

Some 5.1 million people in Thailand are expected to travel to celebrate the traditional Thai New Year’s festival, Songkran, this year, bringing in more than 23 billion baht in revenue – a 26.3% increase from last year, the Bangkok Post reports.

Citing a survey conducted by the Kasikorn Research Centre, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said 44.7 per cent of Bangkok residents plan to travel to their hometown or elsewhere during the Thai New Year celebrations.

“More than 5 million people will travel this week, an increase of 28.9 per cent compared to the number of travellers during the same period last year,” Anucha said.

Thailand’s airports expect 2.37 million people to travel through the airports, an increase of 137.5% over last year. Of the total, 1.37 million people will travel internationally, while the rest will travel within the country.

A government official added that travellers should arrive at least two to three hours before their scheduled departure time to have enough time for pre-flight formalities and procedures.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha advised the public to vaccinate against covid-19 before the holidays and observe covid-19 preventive measures to avoid infection strictly, Anucha also said.

“General Prayut hopes that the public is prepared for the summer heat and urges motorists to observe traffic rules to avoid accidents,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Cybercrime Investigation Bureau has released the results of its pre-New Year’s Day crackdown, resulting in 318 arrests. Colonel Kisana Phatthanacharoen, a spokesperson for the bureau, said fraudsters and criminals step up their activities during the long holidays when people are more likely to let their guard down.

Therefore, between March 29 and April 9, the cybercrime investigation bureau took action against gambling, drugs, illegal immigration, firearms violations and other crimes.

The bureau also cracked down on cybercrimes such as selling non-existent goods over the internet, computer fraud, sex trafficking, online gambling and other transnational digital crimes.

Colonel Kissana said 17 raids were conducted across the country during the week. Officers arrested suspects running gambling websites and selling fake Buddhist amulets and firearms online.

The colonel said people should be wary of threats from criminal call centres, mobile app scams, online shopping scams and other scams involving money transfer requests, job advertisements and cryptocurrency investments.

People travelling to their hometown or tourist destinations during the Songkran holiday should be looking for possible scammers on planes, trains or buses, as public transport is a “Mecca” for scammers, Colonel Kissana added.

View available travel options around Thailand and book tickets for any mode of transport conveniently using the search form from the 12Go Asia service.

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