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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Thailand

The list of Thailand bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

 © 1989-2008 Alter Ego Services

12 Dec 2008 (MCOT-Bangkok) Thailand's Central Bank, the Bank of Thailand (BoT), announced a 5-day consecutive period of bank holidays, from Monday, December 29, 2008, through Friday, January 2, 2009, with the caretaker government's approval. • 09 Dec 2008 (MCOT-Bangkok) Earlier today, Deputy Spokeswoman, Wirinthira Nathongborcharas, announced that Thailand's caretaker Cabinet had declared Friday, January 2, 2009, as a one-off bridge public holiday. • 03 Dec 2008 (Bangkok Post-Bangkok) Thailand's Government spokesman, Natthawut Saikua, has announced that the cabinet had decided to cancel the December 15-18 regional public holiday in Chiang Mai has been canceled. • 05 Nov 2008 (The Straits Times-Singapore) The government of Thailand has declared public holidays for the region of Chiang Mai from Monday to Thursday, December 15-18, 2008, to facilitate traffic and security measures during the upcoming ASEAN summit. • 27 Jan 2008 (The Nation-Bangkok) Electoral Commission (EC) has announced that, contrary to recent practice, it would not ask the government to declare a public holiday on Monday, March 3, 2008, the day after the senatorial election day. • 14 Nov 2007 (Bangkok Post) As we had forecast in our post of August 28, the Thai cabinet declared a one-off public holiday for Monday, December 24, 2007, the day after the Sunday general election, to encourage people to return to their home constituency to vote. • 12 Oct 2007 (The Nation) Although the government of Thailand has not yet made any announcement to that effect, yet, government spokesman, Chaiya Yimwilai, told reporters that the question of whether December 24 should be declared a public holiday had been raised at this week's cabinet meeting. • 28 Aug 2007 (The Nation) The date of Sunday, December 23, 2007, has been announced for the upcoming general elections, and it is possible that the next day, Monday, December 24, 2007, might be declared a public holiday in a manner analogous to the way August 20 was. • 20 Aug 2007 (Mathaba) Following yesterday's approval by referendum of the new charter constitution, a general election now looks set to be held in December, most likely on december 16 or 23, according to both the Election Commission chairman and the Interim Prime Minister. It is therefore likely that a one-off public holiday could be declared on the following Monday (ie. either December 17, or December 24), as was done earlier this month for the day after the charter referendum. • 08 Aug 2007 (Bangkok Post) Finance Minister, Chalongphob Sussangkarn, said all banks and financial institutions would be open on Monday, August 20, 2007. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Thailand public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Weekend Public Holidays: Public holidays falling on a Saturday or Sunday are observed on the Monday following. • Clubs and other places of indulgence are closed on Buddhist Holidays and Royal Holidays like the King/Queen's birthday. • Thai Lunar Calendar: The public holidays of Mahka Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asanha Bucha, and Khao Phansa are based on the Thai lunar calendar. • Songkran: In 1948, the government officially fixed the 13th of April as Songkran Day and officially made it a public holiday. In 1989, the government with General Chatichai Choonhavan as the Prime Minister proclaimed the 12th of April, the 13th of April, and the 14th of April public holidays in order to allow people to return to their hometowns. In 1997, the government with General Chawalit Yongchaiyuth as the Prime Minister changed the dates of holidays on the occasion of Songkran festival to be the 13th of April, the 14th of April and the 15th of April in accordance with the days traditionally observed since time immemorial. • For Bangkok Bank in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun, an extra holiday is given for Eid al Fitr (End of Ramadan) announced by the Sheikhul Islam Office, if the day does not coincide with other holidays or is on Saturday or Sunday. • Royal Ploughing Ceremony Day (usually during the 2nd week of May) is supposed to be a government holiday, however, no reliable source has been found to confirm how it may be predicted. This is an ancient Brahman ceremony, held under Royal patronage in Bangkok, which celebrates the beginning of the rice planting season. The day is selected by Brahmin Priests according to their astrological calendars. • For commercial banks in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun, an extra holiday is given for Eidilfitri Day (Ramadan Day) announced by the Sheikhul Islam Office if the day does not coincide with the above mentioned holidays or Saturday and Sunday. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Bank of Thailand (Thailand central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Thailand, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Thailand that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

South-East Asian Holidays : The rules used to predict South-East Asian public holidays in Thailand are based on the models described in the book "The Calendrical Systems of Mainland South-East Asia", by J.C. Eade, published as part of the "Handbuch der Orientalistik" series. Our sincere thanks to Burghart Hoffrichter for his help in making sense of these calendrical systems.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Thailand, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Thailand, before planning any trip to Thailand. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.