SURAT THANI: About 83,000 visitors to this southern province during Songkran boosted tourism-related income by 84% year-on-year, with major attractions including a full-moon party.
Nantawan Siripokapat, Surat Thani director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said on Thursday that from April 13 to 17 Surat Thai welcomed 83,105 visitors - 61,874 Thais and 21,231 foreigners.
They occupied 53% of local hotel rooms and stayed 3.34 nights on average.
Tourism-related income totalled 895.66 million baht during the five-day period, up by 84% from a year earlier. About 76% of the money was spent on Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, she said.
The number of visitors rose by 47%, up 14.5% for Thai visitors and 783% for foreign visitors.
Ms Nantawan attributed the improvement to allowing fully vaccinated tourists to attend festive activities, and government subsidies for local travellers.
During the Songkran holiday, there were 20 to 30 flights and 17 ferry trips to Koh Samui each day.
"Bigger speedboats were also used to take a large number of tourists to Koh Phangan to attend full-moon parties," she said.
Surat Thani governor Witchawut Jinto said he expected a large number of visitors to the province for the next long holiday, May 13 to 16, with another full moon on May 16.
