On 13 May 2018, H.E. Mrs. Rattikul Chansuriya, Ambassador of Thailand to Spain presided over the opening ceremony of the Thai Festival "Hola Tailandia 2018"  at Arc de Triomf in Barcelona. This event was co-organized by the Embassy and the  Asociacion Amigos de Tailandia Samakkhi, with an aim to promote Thai cultural in Spain through various activities such as Thai cultural performances, Thai food and Muay Thai. On this occasion, the Thai Ambassador gave fund for an amount of 50,000 bahts to Mrs. Sareeya Chaeamchoi, the President of the Asociacion to support the works of the Association in helping Thai people and Consular Affairs in the Year 2018.

          The event was supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand for bringing a Thai professional cultural troupe from the Department of Fine Arts to show varieties of performances from 4 different regions in Thailand. The National Food Institute, Ministry of Industry of Thailand also joined the event to introduce new  ready-to-eat food products under Thailand 4.0  for the 1st time in the Spanish market during the Thai food cooking demonstration.  The Daithon Gym, a Muay Thai Gym in Barcelona  also demonstrated Muay Thai in this event. The Embassy would also like to thank City Council of Barcelona in providing the nice venue for this event.

          The event was very successfully organized for  4  consecutive years in Barcelona. There were  30 booths comprising most of Thai restaurants and  Thai Massage and spa shops in Barcelona and nearby cities.  More than 15,000 Spanish and foreign tourists in Barcelona enjoyed in this Thai festival.