Thailand pushes Ayutthaya into the World Expo arena

[CrazyExpat]

Thailand officially submitted last week the candidacy of Ayutthaya city to host the World Expo 2020. Thailand has been thrilled by the enormous success of Shanghai World Expo 2010, which attracted 70 million visitors, a world record in the history of such an event. Thailand announced last year its bid to host the event and short-listed rapidly three locations: Chiang Mai, Chonburi, and Ayutthaya.

Although Chonburi - with the infamous city of Pattaya - is easy to reach from Bangkok and from Suvarnabhumi Airport, the province image could have turned into a source of problems. Visitors to the World Expo could effectively be exposed to what is probably the largest concentration of prostitutes in the world. Chiang Mai also represented an attractive alternative. However, tourism remains very shaky in Thailand’s northern capital. Despite its attractions, Chiang Mai hotels suffer from oversupply with occupancy of around 40% last year. Building mega-infrastructures in Chiang Mai would have then cost a lot of money, with weak perspectives to balance the investment post-Expo. Chiang Mai was due to expand its airport to accommodate 12 million passengers – compared to 3.5 million passengers last year - while a high-speed train would have linked the city to Bangkok.

Selecting Ayutthaya was then the most logical development. The city is only 70 km away north of Bangkok and is already easy to reach by a good highway system from the capital. In 2010, commercial accommodation in Ayutthaya registered 340,000 travelers, including 143,000 foreign visitors. But according to the management of Ayutthaya Historical Park, about 4 million people come every year to visit the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site. However, the city has been threatened to be removed from the UNESCO list, as development is uncontrolled and law enforcement is poor with respect to the urban planning of the old city. In the last two decades, high-rise buildings or enlarged roads have encroached into historical areas, destroying the old charm of the city.

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