Government considering extending Songkran holidays to lift economy

[christophe75]

5 hours ago, zydeco said:

Improve the economic numbers by closing down factories and plants for two extra days???  Ding. Ding. Ding. What is going on, here?

 

Right.

 

And for that matter, why 2 days... only ?

 

Why not 6 months more ? That would be even better for the economy, according to their weird logic...

 

Perpetual Songkran... Good for the economy.

 

At last, the people will be able to spend... the money they don't have. ???? 

[Number 6]

All that plastic that was used on bags can be directed to cheap plastic junk. So genius.

 

Largest drought in two decades.

 

 

 

[ExpatLife]

1 hour ago, Number 6 said:

All that plastic that was used on bags can be directed to cheap plastic junk. So genius.

 

Largest drought in two decades.

 

 

 

When I was still back in Hua Hin, the 7/11 closest to me adopted that rule for 2 days, before resorting back to plastic bags. The Family Mart on the other hand has seemed to keep with the no plastic bag rule 

[yourauntbob]

consumption does not stimulate an economy, production does.

[scorecard]

14 hours ago, zydeco said:

Improve the economic numbers by closing down factories and plants for two extra days???  Ding. Ding. Ding. What is going on, here?

Plus, IMHO it would be better to limit lots of people travelling everywhere and make policies which push the populace to stay within their own locations until the virus is well passed, to help keep it controlled and limited to specific areas for control and treatments. 

[findlay13]

Who are these "government"<deleted>? I try to plan my visits to miss Songkran.Closed smaller shops and loss of business.With the high baht I'd expect a lot of more affluent Thais [My landlady,Gov't workers ,a couple of hotel owners, and Some Thai Vietnamese I know,for example] will be taking overseas trips at this time.

Still, shopping malls, breweries , distilleries,car repair shops, and coffin makers will be making money.

 

 

[DoctorG]

They want you to go to the shops to spend all that extra money that you probably do not have but have you ever tried to go shopping over Songkran? If you can get there and back without being soaked you have done very well. (for non-car people)

[flyingsaucersarereal]

hahaha Songkran is already a big annoyance now it is going to be longer. What a joke!!!

[Geoffggi]

Words fail me just how stupid can this government get

[Emdog]

6 minutes ago, Geoffggi said:

Words fail me just how stupid can this government get

Never ask "How stupid can you be?"  it is considered a challenge and will try to outdo themselves

[klauskunkel]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Government considering extending Songkran holidays to lift economy

Kudos to the government, you have again met all the expectations people have of you, keep it up you geniuses.

 

 

[jesimps]

Many thousands of people crushed up against each other for 5 days (nearly two weeks in Pattaya), I'm sure that'll help the virus situation ????

[Deli]

Help the economy by bringing down the THB to at least 40 : 1 for the € would make much more sense.

[soistalker]

Why wouldnt the thais waste water? They are wasteful in everything else they do.

[skorp13]

Just what the children need, two more days of this nonsense.

[Damrongsak]

Times are tough.  So what do we do? Party, Party, Party!  P!zz off some tourists who are not into days upon days of this unregulated nonsense.  It's like crazy youth during Spring Break at Daytona Beach in Florida, USA. 

 

Oh, and extend tourism by Thais who can't get back to where they belong. Keep the traffic on the roads as long as possible.  This Deputy Prime Minister is some kid.  Grow up.

[RichardColeman]

Is this the same government that was just telling its citizens to save water ? You just know that any wells will now run dry due to 'festivities' 

[dougiemac52]

17 hours ago, tifino said:

hydro jet assist, to ensure virus affected shooters water gets right inside your eyes/mouth/nose...

 

 

Are the thai government thst stupid that the chance of Songkran will entice people back during the Coronavirus scare. It would be like playing Tig with a virus involved. Maybe they want to be held culpable for the highest victims outside china

[newnative]

     Please, NO.  The madness already seems to last most of the month in Pattaya.  Thailand already has way too many holidays.  Stop taking the easy way out and, for once, do some real thinking, and some real planning, and come up with some new, innovative ideas to stimulate tourism and the economy.  Do some work, for a change.

[tifino]

1 minute ago, dougiemac52 said:

17 hours ago, tifino said:

hydro jet assist, to ensure virus affected shooters water gets right inside your eyes/mouth/nose...

 

 

Are the thai government thst stupid that the chance of Songkran will entice people back during the Coronavirus scare. It would be like playing Tig with a virus involved. Maybe they want to be held culpable for the highest victims outside china

might have to wait out until the entire deck is wet played out...  

[geriatrickid]

Just boggles the mind. No critical thinking from some.

[30la]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

The government might extend the Songkran festival to stimulate the national economy.

Well, you have to explain this to me, people don't have money, to make money they have to work, how can they make a longer vacation without money!
Tip: eliminate the Songkran, huge saving of resources (water, petrol and alkohol)!

[sucit]

People throwing liquids around with a deadly virus around. I will pass. 

[samuttodd]

I like it... It is the "Party all the time" economic model.

[manhood]

Yes let thai people spend more money as most of them are anyway in the depts. And yes, before more and more loose their jobs due to coming up big problems in economy, not only tourism, let's have sanuk sanuk.

How more stupid all the ideas can get blown out from this incompetent government!

Yes dig the peoples grave!

[Damrongsak]

I don't buy this nonsense that Songkran will deplete water resources.  They will just use klong water that is unfit for any purpose other than putting out fires if they can't get it from the tap. Suck it out of the Chao Praya river, so maybe the water will flow to the sea and prevent salt water from coming up river.  (Er, oops!  It comes back up if you create a hole in the water.  Guess again.)

[30la]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

Creating a shopping atmosphere is expected to help the economy which faces many economic risk factors such as the outbreak of the new coronavirus, drought, delay in implementing the budget, including the Korat mass shootings in Nakhon Ratchasima, which have had a huge impact on businesses and the tourism industry.

Strange, you are very good at blaming other events for the failure of your policy, now you already have two reasons to explain why tourism is so declining, CORONA VIRUS and the SHOOTER IN KORAT!
When will you be ready to take your responsibilities?

[cauldlad]

They know about the drought but want to extend Songkran!!!! You could not make this s**t up!!

They should be thinking about cancelling Songktan not extending it!!!

[TKDfella]

I think other comments here have got it right. For me, it means there are two more days I won't venture on the roads, only for my usual local shopping.

[fred110]

TouristS still won't come. Dirty water is bad enough, but now it will carry the virus.