The "World Record for Thai Massage" project is set to draw at least 840 pairs of contestants

Thailand is aiming to break the Guinness World Records' largest ever simultaneous massage Friday evening, The Nation online reported on Friday.

The "World Record for Thai Massage" project is set to draw at least 840 pairs of contestants, hence beating the current world record of 232 pairs massaging en masse set by Australia two years ago, and will be held in northern province of Chiang Mai, northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani, southern provinces of Surat Thani and Phuket. The project is scheduled to start at about 4 p.m. local time.

Wattana Kanchanakamon, Chiang Mai provincial public health officer, said that the project, a collaboration between the Public Health Ministry, the Department of Export Promotion, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and Thai Airway International, aimed to promote Thai massage to the world.

The bid, which would raise cultural awareness of Thai culture just like Muay Thai (Thai boxing), Thai food, Thai architecture and the "wai", Tjao gesture for paying respect to others, would also promote health tourism in Thailand.

The project, launched at Chiang Mai's Royal Park Rajapruek with 199 pairs massaging en masse, will also be held in Ubon Ratchathani with an expected 214 pairs, then Surat Thani with 400 pairs and Phuket with 500 pairs, with the closing ceremony to be held in Bangkok, he said.

Since 2004, Thailand has aspired to be the medical hub of Asia in three areas -- medical treatment, healthcare services and herbal products. In Thailand, there are 220 certified institutes teaching massage and 500,000 individuals have gone through massage training programs.

In Chiang Mai alone, 20 institutes produce 4,000 graduates per year. Chiang Mai has 49 healthcare service establishments, 93 " massage for health" shops and six "massage for beauty and cosmetic " shops, which generate about one billion baht (32.97 million U.S. dollars) per year.

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