Thailand welcomes tourists after the pandemic with Monkey Festival

The Monkey Festival is a traditional festival of Lopburi province, held annually on the last Sunday of November with the purpose of honoring the monkeys in Lopburi, and expressing gratitude to the animals for their contribution to local tourism activities. Lopburi is one of the localities that attracts a large number of tourists in Thailand, because of the large number of monkeys in tourist attractions, Lopburi is also known as "Monkey Province"(rough translation: Monkey Province).

This is the first time in two years that the monkeys have been able to enjoy a bounty of fruits and vegetables donated by locals, as the 2020 festival was forced to be canceled due to the pandemic, CNN reported.

During the festival, visitors can witness the Macaque monkeys running freely, even making a bit of a ruckus outside the temples, with mischievous pranks like taking tourists' cameras or climbing on the management staff, and most of all, enjoying the gifts that the festival has left for them.

"Today's special is durian, an expensive fruit. The monkeys in Lopburi love expensive things," Yongyuth Kitwatananusont, who has been in charge of organizing the Monkey Festival for more than 30 years, told CNN in an interview.

More than 100,000 tourists visited Thailand in November - a number that is as high as the first 10 months of 2021 combined. Since November 1, Thailand has reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from several countries around the world. Visitors who meet all entry requirements and have proof of a negative Covid-19 PCR test will not need to undergo medical quarantine.

In the coming time, Thailand will also gradually reopen other localities in the country. The country also plans to reopen 20 provinces in early December and plans to open 13 more border provinces from January 1, 2022.

Khanh Ha