Thailand has become a popular filming location among movie makers, withover 50 requests to use Thailand as a filming location in just onemonth, the Thai Department of Tourism has said.
In January alone,the office received 56 requests from movie makers to film theirproduction in Thailand, which accounts for a total investment value ofaround 687.35 million THB (22.4 million USD), Director of the Departmentof Tourism’s Thailand Film Office Wansiri Morakul disclosed.
Amongthese requests is a high-budget production from New Zealand , which isexpected to start filming in Thailand in April, she added.
Wansiripointed out that the fact that high-budget films chose Thailand astheir filming location bodes well for the country.
In 2011, atotal of 606 films were shot in Thailand , generating a revenue of1.22 billion THB for the economy. However, last year's income from thisarea is 34.38 percent lower than that of the previous year when 1.86billion THB was brought into the country from only 578 films.
Thisis partly a consequence of the flood crisis during the end of the year,which slowed down filming processes from October to December.
Accordingto Wansiri, the office planned five roadshow activities for this year.Two roadshows were conducted in the Republic of Korea and the UKwhile the remaining three are scheduled for Hong Kong (China), Cannesand the US .
The office will reassure film makers thatfilming locations in Thailand have not been affected by last year’sdevastating flood.-VNA/NNT