Hotels fully booked for Chiang Mai Lantern Festival

Hotels in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Mai are fully booked for this annual Yi Peng festival of lights, the traditional Lantern Festival, which begins Sunday. Wisutr Buachum, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Chiang Mai office said a large number of Thai and foreign tourists are expected during five-day festival as hotels are already 100 per cent booked. He said the overall picture of tourism for the provinces this year is much better than last year. It is expected that from Sunday-- November 25 through Thursday November 29, about Bt1.2 billion will be circulated, or about Bt250-300 million per day, an increase of 15-20 per cent. About 70 per cent of the tourists are Thais. Among foreign tourists, he said, the number of Asian tourists has increased especially Chinese and South Koreans.