After being brought to its knees during the pandemic, Thailand’s tourism industry has now started to recover. The monkey festival in Lop Buri – also known as “Monkey city” – is an example of this. In recent years, visitors have been few in number, but during Sunday’s festivities, the international tourists were again in place, writes Reuters.
The festival’s founder, businessman Yongyuth Kitwatanusont, does not deny that it is precisely the tourists who are the main purpose of the celebration.
– It is a successful event, he says to the news agency AP.
That the tourists are starting to come back is good news not only for the economy. The city’s macaques are used to being able to live on food that they get from tourists – and when the visitors disappeared, they were forced to find new ways to survive.
– They take everything they can. These days, the monkeys are more hungry and aggressive than ever, said fruit vendor Somaksri Janhon The Guardian last summer.
See pictures from the celebration in Lop Buri in the clip above.