2024 Songkran festival will be held for the whole month April instead of 3 days
Splashing new year.Hannah Martens |
Thailand announced that its Songkran water festival will become a month-long celebration instead of being held over three days.
According to the Bangkok Post, Pheu Thai Party leader and National Soft Power Strategy Committee president, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, announced on Dec. 1, 2023, that the committee
agreed to push Songkran to become one of the world's best festivals.
She shared that 2024's Songkran, which falls on April 13, would be a world-class event, celebrated for the whole month of April in all 77 provinces of Thailand, Nation Thailand reported.
This was done to make the festival a global event that everyone would fly to and home to one of the top 10 global festivals, Shinawatra declared.
Chadatip Chutrakul, chief executive of Siam Piwat Co and president of the sub-committee of festival events, said that apart from Bangkok, each province will hold water festival events throughout April, promoting their unique traditions, Bangkok Post wrote.
The events would also offer employment for locals at the village level and allow organisers to train locals in event planning, Chutrakul added.
Paetongtarn wrote on Facebook that the committee expects the extended festival to generate 35 billion baht (S$1.3 billion) for the Thai economy.
