More than 10,000 Chinese tourists were invited to a feast in Thailand yesterday that broke the Guinness World Record for the largest serving of mango and sticky rice — ever.
Hosted by the National Legislative Assembly and the Association of Thai Travel Agents, the “We Care About You” event at at Impact Lakeside — a 150,000 square meter outdoor event space in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district — in the latest attempt to win back the trust of Chinese tourists.
The banquet served up about 1,360 kilograms of sticky rice along with 6,000 mangos, for a total weight of about 4,000-4,500 kilograms, reported the Khaosod.
A Guinness World Record representative officially announced that Thailand broke the current record of the largest serving of mango sticky rice at around 7pm, local media reported.
The previous record-holder was the Anantara Dubai Culinary Team team in Dubai, which took home the title in October of 2016 with a 2,831 kilogram serving.
If that wasn’t enough, guests were also served pork ribs, red lobsters, fried sea bass, tom yum kung and much more.
As chairman of the event, Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon made a point to say that the Thai government recognizes the safety of tourists as one of its biggest priorities, according to Bangkok Biz News.
Sunday’s stunt is just the latest of many aimed at luring back Chinese tourists after the sector suffered a precipitous dip in visitors from China. Perhaps the most notable of these moves has been the visa-on-arrival (VOA) waiver extension announced earlier this month.
Rattled by a series of incidents that led to bad press about Thailand — including the sinking of the tour ship Phoenix — many businesses reliant on Chinese tourists told Coconuts Bangkok last October they had seen a 50-percent drop in reservations from China since August.
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