Last week, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Tourism Authority Thailand announced that 8,745 people from Surin province succeeded in setting a new record of "the highest number of people folding fabric animals simultaneously" in the Guinness World Record. This event was part of the Elephant Festival, an annual event in Surin. Organised by the Surin provincial administration and TAT, the event of folding fabric into elephant dolls aimed to boost tourism since numbers had dropped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Organisers also hoped the event would promote Surin fabric, which is a signature product of the province.
The annual elephant festival in Surin attracted more than the usual attention last week after featuring an attempt to enter the hallowed Guinness Book of Records. Alas, the only record achieved was that hundreds of student "volunteers" roasted in the sun, exposed for hours to high temperatures reaching 39C.
SURIN: The organisers of the Elephant Festival have been pilloried for trying to set a Guinness World Record at the expense of students made to sit in the scorching heat for hours on end.
The organisers of the Elephant Festival have been pilloried for trying to set a Guinness World Record at the expense of students made to sit in the scorching heat for hours on end.