Thailand's tourism body gears up for Chinese New Year festivities

Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 16:44:08|Editor: mmm

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THAILAND-BANGKOK-CHINESE NEW YEAR-PRESS CONFERENCE

A Thai Tiger Dance team performs at a press conference on celebration of Chinese New Year held by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) at Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 24, 2019. Thailand's tourism body is joining hands with China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Chinese Embassy to launch a festive Chinese New Year celebration eve in Bangkok's China Town. (Xinhua/Zhang Keren)

BANGKOK, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's tourism body is joining hands with China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Chinese Embassy to launch a most festive Chinese New Year celebration eve in Bangkok's China Town.

Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT), said at a press conference on Thursday that the celebration this year would be distinct as it comes after Thailand welcomed 10 million Chinese tourists during 2018 for the first time.

"TAT expects to welcome over 330,000 Chinese tourists during the seven-day period (Feb.4 to 10). They represent more than 30 percent of the overall total of 1.03 million international arrivals that are expected to visit Thailand over the Chinese New Year," said the governor.

Yuthasak said Chinese tourists are expected to spend more than 10 billion baht (314 million U.S. dollars) out of an estimated total revenue of 24 billion baht from international visitors during the week-long period.

The TAT's Chinese New Year 2019 celebrations are held in destinations popular with young Chinese tourists.

Events are planned in Bangkok's famed shopping mall Siam Square, northern Thailand's Chiang Mai and the southern province Phuket.

All the three destinations will feature culture performances from China and Thailand. There will be demonstrations of various Chinese art forms including paper cutting and calligraphy, fairs selling goods and auspicious food as well as performances by well-known artists and pop stars.

China is sending cultural performances from seven provinces to the southeastern Asia country.

The TAT is also co-organizing festivities with large Thai-Chinese communities at locations with long-standing tradition of hosting New Year activities across the country.