Thai Festival 2019 in Kolkata

            On 16 March 2019, the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kolkata, hosted the ‘Thai Festival 2019’ event at Royal Bengal Room, City Centre I, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, India with participation from partners and sponsors from Team Thailand and Indian private sector, namely Thai Airways International PCL Kolkata, Thai Smile Airways, Tourism Authority of Thailand Office in New Delhi, Office of Commercial Affairs in New Delhi, Department of International Trade Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, and ITC Sonar Kolkata Hotel.

           Miss Sweeya Santipitaks, Consul-General of Thailand, delivered her opening remarks, stressing on the strong people-to-people linkages between Thailand and Eastern India. She thanked all sponsors who combined efforts to make this Thai Festival a Live exhibition of Thai culture, Thai cuisine, Thai art, Thai craftsmanship, Thai massage, Thai music, Thai dance; showcasing facets of Thai tourism, Thai hospitality, Thai visa service, with promotional air tickets and easy access information for planning a trip to Thailand. In this connection, the Consul-General hoped that the Thai Festival 2019 would serve as an inspiration or a motivation for people in Kolkata and Eastern India to start travelling or multiply their visits for authentic experience in Thailand.

           Among other highlights was the lavishly decorated unique piece of Thai floral art, designed and realised by Mr. Phubast Chesdmethee, Vice Chairman of the World Flower Council (WFC), Asia-Pacific Region, a world-renowned floral designer and consultant who won many prestigious floral decoration awards. During the Festival, Mr. Chesdmethee also offered floral decoration demonstration and workshop in order to raise awareness and promote Thai orchids and Thai natural decorative materials from the Royal Project under the patronage of His Majesty the King of Thailand among the Indian public. He also wished to valorise and expose Thai floral craftsmanship to the international market, especially among high level clients such as leading hotel groups in Eastern India.

           Apart from cultural enrichment, participants could also test Thai product samples brought by Thai entrepreneurs under the Top Thai Brand 2019 project, another Team Thailand parallel activity which took place at the Kund Area, City Centre I, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, from 13 to 17 March 2019, hosted by the Office of Commercial Affairs, New Delhi, in collaboration with the Department of International Trade Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and other entities from Team Thailand.

           This event was, in a way, a ‘launching’ event for Thai Smile Airways, which was scheduled to open its first flying routes between Bangkok and Kolkata: route WE347/TG2347 from Bangkok to Kolkata, and route WE348/TG2348, from Kolkata to Bangkok.

          At the end of the event, Mr. Jirachai Suthiyothin, Marketing Strategy
& Analysis Director, Thai Smile Airways, gave away the prizes of 2 return air tickets Kolkata – Bangkok – Kolkata to 2 lucky draw winners. The Consul-General of Thailand, Miss Sweeya Santipitaks, along with the representative of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in New Delhi, also gave away 2 prizes of hotel vouchers in Bangkok for 2 other lucky draw winners.

           This event has received extensive press coverage from press and media in different forms: Television (Channel One Kolkata, Ghanta TV and Dinkaal Bangla TV), Radio (Friends 91.9 FM), Newspaper and Online News websites (Times of India – Calcutta Times, The Telegraph – T2, What’s New Life, United News India, Media India Group, Northern Indian Patrika, and Ebela), as well as ‘bloggers’ and ‘food bloggers’ (Indrajit Lahiri, Poorna Banerjee and Rangan Datta).