The year 2024 is the Year of Cultural Exchange and Tourism between Thailand and Russia. New Eastern Outlook details how this interesting and useful form of international humanitarian relations is being implemented by the two countries.
Thai initiative, common interest
The Year of Cultural Exchange and Tourism officially started in Russian-Thai relations at the end of April 2024, initiated by Thailand. Russia supported its partner’s proposal, and the parties are making a mutual effort to make humanitarian exchanges even more diverse and widespread. The Year of Cultural Exchange is a special form of international cultural cooperation, which implies boosting ties and implementing a significant number of joint projects in a short timeframe. This allows not only to attract more viewers and listeners (citizens of friendly countries), to participate in humanitarian contacts, but also to qualitatively fine-tune the system of the joint organisation of events, holding them together with the support of ministries, diplomatic missions, cultural institutions and public organisations.
The opening of the Year in Bangkok turned out to be very colourful. The State Academic Russian Folk Choir named after M. E. Pyatnitsky performed before a Thai audience, two exhibitions were held: one from the Peterhof Museum-Reserve, dedicated to the visit of King Rama V of Siam to St. Petersburg in 1897 and the history of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and a second, ‘Discovering Russia’, which presented a photo gallery of the most picturesque Russian landscapes. Special attention was drawn to the ceremony of Thailand transferring specially made Thai folk musical instruments to the Russian National Museum of Music.
Some major cultural events took place months before the official opening of the Year. So, at the end of January, the tour of the leading Russian saxophonist and jazz performer Igor Butman and his quintet took place in Thailand, bringing together many jazz fans and becoming quite the event in local cultural life. Cinema has become another focus of bilateral relations. At the end of January, Moscow Film Festival opened in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket. From February to April, Russian films such as ‘Challenge’ («Вызов»,) ‘The Little Humpbacked Horse’ («Конёк-Горбунок»), ‘The Heart of Parma’ («Сердце Пармы»), ‘Reversible Reality’ («Обратимая реальность») and ‘Raiders of the Lost Library’ («Либерея: охотники за сокровищами») were shown. In addition to that, negotiations were organised between representatives of the Russian and Thai film industries. As a result, Russian films were shown in more than 400 cinemas in Thailand, Thai film industry figures expressed their appreciation of Russian film production and mutual interest between the parties to wider cooperation in film production was identified. Russia and Thailand already have experience in joint film projects.
The tours of various ensembles continue. In early August, a Festival of Thai culture was held in the Hermitage Garden in Moscow. This festival is already ten years old. For three days, visitors could get acquainted with the culture and cuisine of Thailand, listen to live music, see master classes in martial arts, needlework, cooking popular Thai dishes, taste exotic fruits and buy unusual souvenirs.
A Thai musical group will perform at the XVI Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival, which will take place in Moscow from August 23 to September 1. Representatives of the Benchamatheputhit school are winners and medallists of many domestic music competitions. The history of the orchestra dates back several decades, and it consists of 50 musicians playing brass and woodwind instruments.
Tourism is rising
Another humanitarian area included in the themes of the Year is tourism. The number of Russian tourists traveling to Thailand on vacation has reached pre-pandemic levels and gone beyond. This was largely achieved due to the large number of direct flights between the two countries and the new rules for visa-free entry. According to current procedures, Russian citizens can stay in Thailand without a visa for 60 days. Since the beginning of 2024, more than a million Russians have already visited the Southeast Asian country. However, despite the fact that positive reviews among our citizens visiting the kingdom outweigh the negative ones, this area still requires development and joint work. It is necessary to eliminate the risks of life- and health-threatening incidents and the activities of unscrupulous firms, and combine efforts to stop the criminal activity of fraudsters who chase tourists.
Against the background of the growing tourist flow in Thailand, the Russian language is receiving special attention. The number of students studying it is growing. Various courses and university programmes, including those initiated with the active assistance of graduates from Russian universities, have operated before, and recently, as part of the Year, intensive Russian courses have been launched on the campus of Prince Songkhla University in Phuket, organised in partnership with the Altai State Humanitarian Pedagogical University named after V. M. Shukshin. Students will be able to choose one of six thematic programmes on the Russian language and culture: Oral Russian, Discover the Russian Language, Secrets of Russian Grammar, Russian for Special Purposes: Travelling inside Russia, Russian Culture: Secrets of Success in Tourism and Hospitality, Russian for Special Purposes: Tourism. Around 300 people have already enrolled in the courses.
Schedule for autumn
An unprecedentedly large tour in the East Asian country by Russian theatre groups is planned for the autumn of 2024. From September 13 to October 12, performances by artists of the Bolshoi Theatre and the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre are expected at the Thai Cultural Centre in Bangkok. The programme includes Swan Lake, Spartacus, Don Quixote, the Carmen Suite and a gala concert. In turn, the Bangkok Royal Symphony Orchestra is going on tour to Moscow and St. Petersburg at the end of September.
Despite the promising and rich programme, it should be noted that the coverage of the Year’s events would be much greater if they could be extended to more regions of the two countries, attracting not only the metropolitan public and, in the case of Thailand, residents of resort areas. Hopefully, in the future, the parties will find an opportunity to introduce their culture on a mutual basis to many more citizens of the partner state. In addition, media coverage of the Year remains insufficient, and it should be increased so that this information reaches as many interested citizens of both countries as possible.
It also makes sense to repeat the experience of 2016, when the Year of Cultural Exchanges between Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held for the first time. Southeast Asian interest in the Russian language and culture, as well as Russian interest in the cultures and languages of Southeast Asia, is big and the increasing humanitarian contacts between the parties, as an important area of the Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership, would resonate with a large number of people.
Ksenia Muratshina, PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
