After Pattaya debuted its new ‘Squid Fair‘ seafood festival this weekend, a business and tourism association says it generated over a million baht in revenue. The president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association told The Pattaya News that, the 20 vendors at the festival earned almost 30,000-40,000 baht a day. The festival lasted for 3 days.
The festival was held in front of the Terminal 21 Pattaya shopping centre. The seafood vendors were decorated with Japanese ornaments, and on the last day, the festival closed up with a performance by Thai singer Earth Pattawee. With several well known seafood vendors all gathered together in one spot in front of the popular shopping zone, customers could enjoy a nice variety, particularly a variety of squid.
The PBTA president said he was surprised that 3,000-4,000 visitors went to the festival every day it was held. He said he had expected that number to be 1,000-2,000. The PBTA says it will keep planning new events in the future.
All over Thailand, business and tourism authorities are putting their heads together to find ways to bring income to local farmers and sellers. This comes after tourism economies have been disheveled by Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the Thai government. Phuket in particular has seen massive efforts by officials to organise events to help repair its fractured tourism economy. In Phuket, officials this year have organised 2 seafood festivals, and an event with hot air balloons at the Sarasin Bridge, linking Phuket to the mainland.
SOURCE: The Pattaya News