From today until April 1, the 42th Thailand Tourism Festival is transforming Queen Sirikit National Convention Center into a fun playground that combines Thai tradition and technology to create new visual travel experiences.
Focusing on soft power and subculture, this year's festival is divided into nine zones, and showcases a wide range of creative cultural performances and culinary options from the central, eastern, northern, northeastern and southern regions.
Your journey can start at the Amazing Thailand Zone, where visitors can immerse in a gigantic 360-degree LED Box and an avant-garde VR dome to interact with the Vista Virtual influencer. A group of veteran writers, photographers and travel influencers will also get together at the Traveller Bar and Space to share their experiences.
An imitation of Bang Bao Lighthouse on Koh Chang adds tranquil beach vibes to the Colourful Burapha Eastern Village, along with more than 50 shops from Rayong, Chanthaburi, Chon Buri and Trat offering a wide selection of seafood, fresh fruits and local cuisine like durian, spicy fried catfish with curry, and chicken curry with cardamom. There will also be performances from the Royal Thai Navy Music Division and the Alcazar Cabaret Show Pattaya.
Featuring King Narai's Palace in Lop Buri, the Klang Buri Central Village is designed to resemble both a temple fair and a floating market. Here, visitors can warm up for the upcoming Songkran celebration and enjoy pad Thai from Pathum Thani, miang kham lam phya from Nakhon Pathom, Pah Chaliao's khao chae from Nonthaburi and roti samai from Ayutthaya.
Admission is free. It's open daily from 10am-9pm. Call TAT Contact Center 1672.
Chuang Asia themed rooms available at three hotels
Through its sponsorship of the idol survival programme Chuang Asia, Trip.com has collaborated with three hotels in Bangkok to provide exclusive Chuang Asia themed rooms available until April 20.
The room rates start at 4,940 baht per night at Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit, 5,500 baht per night at Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok, and 5,600 baht per night at The Salil Hotel Riverside Bangkok. Each room boasts decorative items and souvenirs, such as a mentor poster, Chuang Asia windmill origami, and a randomly selected trainee poster with autograph.
Guests who engage in activities on Trip.com's social media platforms will get a chance to win trainee kits designed by Team Wang, a trainee welcome pack, autographed mentor posters, and limited-edition Chuang Asia collectables like trainee-autographed Trip.com suitcases.
Visit trip.com.
China Eastern Airlines sees uptick during Spring Festival
China Eastern Airlines reports that it and its subsidiaries Shanghai Airlines and China United Airlines operated a total of 106,800 passenger flights during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, transporting nearly 16.5 million passengers, with an average load factor exceeding 82%.
Statistics show that during the peak travel period around the Spring Festival, the airline transported an average of over 412,400 passengers every day. With nearly 480,000 passengers per day, the three days from Feb 14-16 had the greatest passenger volume.
With more than 44,000 arriving and departing flights at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the airline carried over 6.85 million passengers, including more than 530,000 transit passengers and over 4,000 unaccompanied minors.
After visa-free policies were put into place, there was a significant increase in travel to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In the first two months of this year, the average fill factor on flights to Malaysia was 82.7%.
