Thailand's famed festival of lights causes headaches for pilots

[webfact]

Thailand's famed festival of lights causes headaches for pilots

Visitors grew 30% last year, highlighting issues with lucrative celebration

MARIMI KISHIMOTO, Nikkei staff writer

 

Floating lanterns in Thailand's Yee Peng festival have been blamed for house fires and canceled flights.   © Reuters

 

BANGKOK -- Thailand's famed floating lantern festival has long been an object of magical imagery, but the increasing scale of the event is drawing blame for property damage and canceled flights.

 

Yee Peng is celebrated annually on a full moon in either October or November. The festivities are also a valuable source of revenue for local economies.

 

The festival generates between $14.4 million and $19 million in economic benefit, said Kenichi Shimomura, senior project manager for Southeast Asia at German consultancy Roland Berger.

 

Yee Peng, in which many lit lanterns are released into the night sky, is particularly popular in Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai. Last year, the number of visitors who entered the province for the festival jumped 30% to roughly 130,000. This year's celebration in Chiang Mai will be held Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.

 

Full story: https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Life/Thailand-s-famed-festival-of-lights-causes-headaches-for-pilots

 

-- © Copyright Nikkei Asian Review 2020-09-24

 

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[bluesofa]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand's famed festival of lights causes headaches for pilots

With so many flights cancelled due to Covid, I'd have thought the above should say 'causes headaches for both pilots'.

[tomazbodner]

Domestic flights into CM aren't cancelled and are in fact many every day.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, bluesofa said:

With so many flights cancelled due to Covid, I'd have thought the above should say 'causes headaches for both pilots'.

But might cause a headache for Prayut, will he cancel this years event or the "emergency decree"?

Oh decisions decisions.

[Scott Tracy]

I was under the impression this activity had been banned a long time ago. Pilots complain, houses catch fire as do fields, animals strangled in the wires, etc.

[Oldie]

Might be more quiet anyway this year. Especially in Chiang Mai the tourists will be missing. For many tourists an unforgettable experience last year. 

 

 

[jpduggan]

Well there won't be too many pilots in the sky for this years festival

[TheFreqFlyer]

6 hours ago, hotchilli said:

But might cause a headache for Prayut, will he cancel this years event or the "emergency decree"?

Oh decisions decisions.

No. Why should he? It's a cultural event and since July almost all economic activities have been allowed. Only exception are crowds in stadiums, which have to be restricted to I think it's 25%. 

[hotchilli]

47 minutes ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

No. Why should he? It's a cultural event and since July almost all economic activities have been allowed. Only exception are crowds in stadiums, which have to be restricted to I think it's 25%. 

And protests.

[ncc1701d]

Same type of article every year. They don't typically go high enough to be a problem and I believe a ban was put in place within a certain radius from airports. 

[TheFreqFlyer]

18 hours ago, hotchilli said:

And protests.

Protests were basically allowed too. 

[hotchilli]

16 minutes ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

Protests were basically allowed too. 

Only after asking for them to be postponed.