Culture Ministry selects 76 cultural highlights for Unseen Thai Thai
The initiative covers 60 cultural tourism sites and 16 festivals, traditions and ways of life chosen through a two-tier selection process.
- Thailand's Culture Ministry has selected 76 cultural highlights, one from each province, for its "Unseen Thai Thai" initiative.
- The selections are categorized into 60 cultural tourism sites and 16 festivals, traditions, or cultural ways of life.
- The initiative aims to promote Thailand's cultural identity and boost local economies by turning cultural assets into tourism attractions.
- Future plans involve developing the selected sites, promoting them digitally, and linking them into provincial tourism networks to generate income for communities.
Sabeeda Thaised, Minister of Culture, said on Thursday (July 23, 2026) that the Ministry of Culture was pressing ahead with the concrete implementation of its “Unseen Thai Thai” policy.
The initiative aims to identify, select and enhance cultural capital that reflects Thailand’s distinctive identity.
This includes cultural tourism sites, festivals, traditions, ways of life and local wisdom from all 76 provinces.
It seeks to raise awareness of Thai cultural values and present them in a contemporary context.
It also aims to build on cultural capital through the creative economy under the concept “ROOT to RICH: From Cultural Roots to Economic Value”.
The policy focuses on adding value, distributing income to communities and strengthening the grassroots economy while supporting the sustainable conservation of cultural heritage.
The initiative’s main objectives are to enhance cultural capital and local wisdom through the creative economy and promote cultural tourism.
It also seeks to raise awareness of Thai cultural values nationally and internationally, and to bring the public sector, private sector and cultural networks together in a unified effort.
The Ministry worked with provincial authorities on a two-tier screening process.
At the provincial level, each provincial governor chaired the process.
At the ministry level, it was chaired by the Ministry’s chief inspector-general.
The screening produced 76 selections covering all 76 provinces, divided into:
- 60 cultural tourism sites
- 16 festivals, traditions and cultural ways of life
Thaised said the selected Unseen Thai Thai entries in the cultural tourism sites category included the following.
- “Pha Daeng’s 3,000-year-old rock paintings” (Kanchanaburi)
- “The remarkable stone forest at Phu Pha Pheung” (Kalasin)
- “Kamphaeng Phet’s remarkable laterite ordination hall” (Kamphaeng Phet)
- “The cultural charm of Sawathi’s happy way of life” (Khon Kaen)
- “Life in Paet Riu’s traditional raised-bed orchard community” (Chachoengsao)
- “The remarkable Buddha image carved from wild magnolia wood at Wat Luang Khun Win” (Chiang Mai)
- “An ancient handwritten Qur’an” (Narathiwat)
- “The Phutthanimit Pathummat sacred diagram at Wat Na Phra Meru” (Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya)
- “Mueang Khun Khuan Museum of Sacred Diagrams: the world’s only hall of Lanna scriptures and sacred diagrams” (Phayao)
- “Takua Pa’s corridor through time: the historic ‘Ngo Kha Khi’ five-foot walkway” (Phang Nga)
- “Roi Et Tower (Ho Wot 101)” (Roi Et)
- “Lampang Geopark” (Lampang)
- “Singora, the lagoon city: Khao Daeng Old Town Community” (Songkhla)
- “Nam Khao Siwa Cave” (Sa Kaeo)
- “Phra Phothisat Cave” (Saraburi)
- “Banrachan Retro Market” (Sing Buri)
- “Phra Achana, the Speaking Buddha” (Sukhothai)
- “Wat Phra That Bang Phuan, one of four sites worldwide featuring the Seven Great Places” (Nong Khai)
- “Phra Ok Taek, the ‘Buddha with a broken chest’: layered faith at Wat Ban Kaeng Tai” (Uttaradit)
Entries in the festivals, traditions and cultural ways of life category included the following.
- “Krabi, city of art and home of beautiful Tenth-Month offering processions” (Krabi)
- “Fireball polo tradition” (Chaiyaphum)
- “Ayok Festival” (Chiang Rai)
- “Traditional rice-field windmill festival” (Trang)
- “The Nyah Kur old-year cleansing rite: swords of faith, heirs of Dvaravati” (Phetchabun)
- “Tum Ka lantern-lighting tradition” (Yasothon)
- “Pak Nam Prasae mid-river robe-offering tradition” (Rayong)
- “Grand flower-tree procession” (Loei)
- “Dua Buri sweet: 100 years of flavour from Negeri Setoi” (Satun)
- “Elephant-master initiation ceremony: preserving the legacy of the elephant-raising Kuy community” (Surin)
- “Mountain pilgrimage to Erawan Cave Temple” (Nong Bua Lam Phu)
- “Mekong River fish-scooping tradition” (Ubon Ratchathani)
In the next phase, the Ministry has set out four key areas of work:
- Improving the capacity of tourism sites and festivals so they meet required standards.
- Raising awareness and promoting the initiative through digital media and cultural networks in Thailand and abroad.
- Linking cultural tourism networks and routes at the provincial level and in nearby areas.
- Encouraging communities, cultural entrepreneurs, local wisdom holders, folk artists and the private sector to participate in turning cultural roots into economic value and distributing income sustainably to the grassroots economy.
“I invite everyone to travel and experience the charm of ‘Unseen Thai Thai’ across all 76 provinces, learn about local identities, cultural heritage and valuable traditions, and play an important part in generating income and driving the grassroots economy so communities can grow sustainably,” Thaised said.
The selection results and the “UNSEEN THAI THAI” guidebook are available at https://heyzine.com/flip-book/0676fc59af.html
