The Royal Thai Pavilion in Utanede, Ragunda is amazingly unique: it is the only Royal Thai Pavilion of its kind outside Thailand. Nearly 100 years after the visit by the Thai King Chulalongkorn Rama V in 1897, Thai representatives decided together with Ragunda to honour the king’s visit through erecting a spectacular memorial building right in the Swedish birch tree forest.
The local tourism board has now called for the next step in developing the area further, coinciding with the King Chulalongkorn day.
Together with representatives from the Thai Embassy in Stockholm, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and other Thai participants, Ragunda Municipality and Tourism Board (Destination Ragundadalen) would like to continue to jointly work together to promote the relationship between Sweden and Thailand here in Ragunda.
“Our vision is to take the next step together with Thai participants and the local people to discuss and promote further development of the area around the Thai Pavilion. The close cooperation between the persons living here and our Thai participants, (such as the Association for the memory of King Chulalongkorn, FCM) is of utmost importance as it is precisely through local knowledge that we can know and keep this history alive,” said Åsa Lind Chong, CEO- Destination Ragundadalen.
On Friday 23 October 2015 the municipality of Ragunda together with Destination Ragundadalen and FCM honoured King Chulalongkorn by arranging a memorial ceremony and inviting the public. Persons who had participated from the beginning in the development of the area were particularly welcomed to attend the ceremony and following lunch.
“Increased participation can strengthen the local area and the cooperation between not only members of the various organisations but also with the local inhabitants can further meaningful development in the area. I believe that there are a number of people locally who would welcome the invitation to participate through sharing of their knowledge and in combination with Thai participants we can accordingly offer the visitor an experience out of the ordinary,” said Gun Marie Persson, Destination Ragundadalen.
