The province expects a tourism windfall related to Blackpink member Lalisa "Lisa" Manoban.
Tourism officials in Buri Ram are banking on the popularity of the K-pop star – a Buri Ram native – to spur domestic visitor demand in the fourth quarter.
Ratpacha Teerapattharakit, president of the Buri Ram Tourism Association, said tourism in the province has directly benefitted from Lisa's first solo music video, which features her home town’s Phanom Rung Historical Park.
In addition to Thai traditional headgear – an element of the video that’s already gone viral – the "standing meatballs" shops where customers have to stand to eat at Buri Ram railway station have proved popular with locals after Lisa mentioned she wanted to eat this street food when she returns home.
Ms Ratpacha said there have been many inquiries about Lisa-inspired tour packages, so the association plans to introduce a three-day, two-night programme next month to Phanom Rung. The packages will feature visits to standing meatball shops and community-based tourism to Lisa’s home district of Satuek.
"We expect Phanom Rung will be crowded with locals dressed like Lisa, as happened a few years ago with a Thai period drama set in Ayutthaya that spiked tourism receipts there," she said.
