Roi Rim Lay praised for redistributing income

Speaking at the Roi Rim Lay seafood festival at Saphan Hin yesterday (Mar 27), Vice Governor Pichet pointed out that the event held at Saphan Hin over the weekend featured 17 operators serving local food, 19 operators selling seafood, 13 outlets selling community products and 71 vendors selling general merchandise.

More than 10 mobile food vendors also joined the event, he added.

All the vendors were able to set up shop at the event “without any cost to truly help entrepreneurs”, he said.

“In 2019, Phuket had 14,454,187 tourists and the income from tourism was about B442.891 billion,” V/Gov Pichet said.

“But in 2020, when COVID-19 began spreading in Thailand, the number of tourists coming to Phuket fell to 4,003,290 tourists, a decrease of 72.54%,” he added.

““This resulted in tourism revenue of B108.464 billion, a decrease of 75.51%, leading to household  income and employment problems,” he said.

According to the latest Phuket Reopening Daily Report by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) issued today (Mar 28), in the past nine months Phuket has had just 415,928 tourist arrivals.

The Roi Rim Lay, and other food festivals being held across the island are helping to alleviate household financial stress, V/Gov Pichet continued.

“They increase household income and create employment for entrepreneurs, and help reduce household expenses for local people,” he said.

“This will help mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 situation. and drive the economy in Phuket,” he added.

“We sincerely hope that this seafood festival, Roi Rim Lay, will help stimulate the economy in Phuket by increasing consumption of goods, which will increase the income of farmers, producers and entrepreneurs,” he said.

Phuket City Mayor Sarot Angkhanapilas said the Roi Rim Lay festival will return to Saphan Hin on April 23-24.

The event, like the event over the weekend, will be held under New Normal requirements, but still feature the live entertainment and other on-stage activities that have proved popular among visitors to the festival.