Foreign tourists are expected to spend around 2.93 billion baht on taking part in festivities and travel during Sonkgran, up 18.1% from last year, Kasikorn Research Centre said on Friday.
The Songkran festival public holiday started today and will end next Tuesday, April 16.
The research centre said its survey suggested about 700,000 foreign tourists would visit Thailand during the long Songkran holiday, an increase of 16.7% on the same period last year.
Of the total expected spending, the centre said 8.8 billion baht will go on accommodation, 7.4 billion on buying souvenirs, 5.3 billion baht on food and drink, 3.2 billion baht on entertainment, 3 billion baht on transport and 1.2 billion baht on packaged tours.
The rest will be spent on other tourism-related businesses.
