The Thai government has teamed up with the private sector to organize a series of street food festivals in major tourist destinations. The first will be held on Bangkok’s Silom Road on 1-2 February. On 29 February -1 March Ayuthhtaya will take over as the host city. Then the feast will tour to Chon Buri's Pattaya on 3-6 April, Chiang Mai on 25-26 April, Khon Kaen on 1-3 May, and terminate in Phuket on 30-31 May.
This year, more than 100 street food vendors and 400 food shops from across the country will take part in the events.
The festival will also attempt to set a world record for the largest Pad Thai, which will be fried by one hundred cooks in the world's longest pan being 110m long and 99cm wide. The dish, weighing nearly 2.2 tons, will be served to 22,000 people.
This large-scale project is expected to bring more international visitors to the Kingdom and promote gourmet tourism nationwide.
In 2016 and 2017, Bangkok was named the world’s best city for street food by CNN. According to research conducted by Euromonitor International, in 2017 Thailand generated THB276 billion (around US$8.8 billion) in revenue from street food, up 4.3% from 2016, which figure is expected to rise to THB340 billion (nearly US$10.9 billion) in 2021.