By Linda Khoo
BANGKOK, April 9 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Millions of vehicles are expected to clog up roads and highways in Thailand starting tomorrow as Thais start to head to their hometowns to celebrate the Songkran festival, Thais’ traditional New Year this weekend.
The three-day Songkran festival is from Friday to April 15 but this year the Cabinet has approved extending the holiday period to five days – April 12 to April 16.
The holiday travel rush here is already underway as tens of thousands city-dwellers have started making their annual exodus to their hometowns earlier, by road, rail, sea and air.
Thailand’s Transport Ministry estimates vehicles on major roads in the country will reach 7.6 million, an increase of 3.43 per cent as compared to last year.
Bus terminals and railway stations are teeming with passengers in Bangkok. Thailand Transport Company has increased its bus services from 6,000 trips per day to 9,000 trips per day during the peak travel period starting tomorrow to April 13 for Thais to travel home. It is expected about 200,000 passengers per day travel to various provinces in the country.
For journeys back to Bangkok, starting April 14 to 17, the company provides about 8,100 trips a day to accommodate about 165,000 passengers per day.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s six major airports are expecting to handle about 3.21 million passengers during the Songkran holiday, from April 11 to 17.
Thousands of migrant workers from neighboring countries – Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are also expected to travel back to their hometowns for Songkran.
— NNN-BERNAMA
