Thailand marks Songkran New Year with water fights and travel surge

Thousands of people filled Khao San Road, using water guns and buckets to soak passers‑by in what is both a celebration and a way to cool down during the peak heat of the dry season. The festival is one of the country’s most important cultural and religious events, drawing locals and tourists alike and giving a major boost to travel and tourism across the country.

Beyond the capital, millions of workers and students travelled to their home provinces to mark the three‑day holiday with family rituals, making this one of the largest annual movements of people in Thailand each year. In Thailand and neighbouring countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, Songkran combines public water fights with quietly solemn ceremonies, including pouring water over elders’ hands as a sign of respect and as a way of wishing them good health and long life.

Authorities in Bangkok said public transport and special services were reinforced on 13 April to handle the seasonal movement, which is widely regarded as one of the largest annual migrations in Southeast Asia.