Joanna James
Thailand is a country of many attractions. It is also a country that has laid out a well-planned tourist agenda for the year 2018. Here's a glimpse of what to expect.
Thailand has historically been divided into five main regions. Each region has their own key attraction and identity. While some of these regions are popular for being luxury destinations – the pool villas in Phuket being one example – they all have traditional attractions, too. The Northern region is known for its important role in taking the sacred relic out of hiding and allowing people to worship it. Called "Rub Phra That Jao Kao Wing", northern region is all about temples. While the Southern region also is rather religious, their identity stems from their affiliation to the monks. The Eastern region is all about farming, the Kong Kao Festival, while the Northeastern region celebrates Phu Thai dance. Central region is also about aesthetics, but their form of dance is the Thai long drum dance.
The taste of Thai food is something that is created and recreated all over the world. Paying homage to this now popular cuisine, you can expect to see a lot of food stalls with local flavour being out in the open. Be it Mango with sticky rice from a high end hotel like Anantara Layan Phuket Resort, or Tom Yum King from a night market down a busy street, food is going to play a vital role in your Thailand getaway.
Being a predominantly Buddhist country, Thailand does have its fair share of religious festivals. However, the most colourful are not the religious festivals but the cultural ones. 2018 will see these festivals being celebrated at a much grander scale, being a focal point for tourist attraction. Some of the more popular and breathtakingly beautiful festivals include the Thai International Kite Festival, Wonderfruit Festival, and Thai International Balloon Festival. All these are deeply rooted in Thai culture, but can be easily understood and shared by a person of any cultural background.
Sports has not been something Thailand has focused on in terms of tourism in the past years. 2018, however, will see a change in all this, in that large sports events will be held and promoted as key tourist attractions. Some of the sporting events scheduled to be held in Thailand include Moto GP, Air Race 1 Thailand, World Wai Kru Muay Thai, and Amazing Thailand marathon Bangkok 2018. While locals and professionals will be competing in each of these events, it is expected that they will serve as good events to visit for the regular tourist.
Thailand has never been criticised for its hospitality. However, this good host and welcoming hospitality is expected to be taken up a notch in 2018, with tourist industry taking a leading role. You can expect more tourist information centres, people with an expanded knowledge about attractions, and an overall conducive environment for travelling.
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