On 10 June 2023, the Royal Thai Embassy in Copenhagen, together with Team Thailand and Thai community in Denmark, organized the Thai Festival 2023 at Copenhagen’s City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. H.E. Mrs. Sirilak Niyom, Ambassador of Thailand to Denmark, and Mr. Jens-Kristian Lütken, a Copenhagen Mayor of the Employment and Integration Affairs delivered a welcoming remark.
Her Excellency the Ambassador gave a welcoming remark to the attendants of the Thai festival which was held for the first time in 4 years since the outbreak of COVID-19. The Thai festival is an event that helps promote relations between Thailand and Denmark, especially at the people level, in which culture is a powerful tool to connect people, leading to better mutual understanding and a more peaceful world. The 400-year Thai-Danish contact and the 165th-anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Denmark this year profoundly exemplify this cordial relation. Prior to the pandemic, there were approximately 170,000 Danish tourists travelled to Thailand annually. Currently, there are about 14,000 Thai residents living in Denmark. Her Excellency the Ambassador also welcomed the Thai community who participated in the event and helped showcase the beauty of Thai arts and culture, as well as demonstrating the unity of Thai community in Denmark which helped organize the Thai festival to its success.
Mr. Jens-Kristian Lütken addressed participants that Thailand holds a special place in the hearts of many Danes due to the tasty gastronomy, idyllic beaches, and welcoming smile of Thais. With these reasons, Danish people love to visit Thailand and many more are about to follow to experience wonders of the country. He praised the vibrant Thai Community for its great contribution to the development of Denmark’s society and its important role in making Copenhagen the global city. He thanked Thailand for bringing a warm and beautiful culture to a cold country like Denmark.
The festival included several cultural performances: namely, long-drum parade, Khon (traditional Thai theatre), Thai fencing and sabre martial arts, Muay Thai demonstration, and Thai traditional dance and music. In addition, there were a number of activities and 21 booths of Thai entrepreneurs, selling authentic Thai food and goods and Thai beverages such as Thai tea, iced coffee and Singha beer, including Thai massage. There were also booths of Thai Airways, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Thai voluntary nurses service and kid corners with drawing and colouring of paper umbrellas and bookmarks. There were also lucky draws with the exceptional prizes of 2 Copenhagen-Bangkok round-trip plane tickets, 3 accommodation vouchers from TAT, and quality products made in Thailand from Georg Jensen, Royal Copenhagen, and ECCO.
The Thai Festival successfully accomplished with a great number of around 20,000 visitors continuously throughout the day including Danes, Thais, foreigners and general tourists. The atmosphere of the Thai Festival with full of colours and fun entertainment can be viewed at attached photos and the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCcOwSY74Jg
The Royal Thai Embassy sincerely appreciate all the efforts from all relating parties ¬ who contributed to the success of this event namely; Copenhagen Municipality, Thai Airways, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Trade Center, Singha Corporation, Pandora, Georg Jensen, Royal Copenhagen, ECCO, FiberVisions-Indorama Venture, Rak Thai School, Khon Krabi-Krabong Club from Assumption College Bangrak, traditional Thai music band, Thai Christian community, Danish Muaythai Federation, Lyngyby Thaiboxing, all the performers, Thai volunteer nurses, Danish and Thai volunteers, and all the participants who have supported the organizing of this Thai festival to its great success. The Royal Thai Embassy looks forward to seeing everyone again next year.