Magazine

BANGKOK, 12 October 2010 – Tourist arrivals to Thailand continued an upward swing with a 13.3% growth recorded for the first nine months reaching 11,210,017 trips, according to data posted on the Department of Tourism’s website Monday. In September, the Immigration Bureau tallied 1,191,755 arrivals at all checkpoints — overland, sea and air excluding...
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BANGKOK, 11 October 2010 –Tourism New Zealand will support a popular Thai television soap opera to boost holiday bookings during the  off-peak season, TNZ Thailand manager, Roskamol Vongchowanart said Friday. She was commenting on trade support in the local market on the sidelines of a product workshop, “Tourism New Zealand Frontline Agent Training” held...
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TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, 11 October 2010 – Thailand joined Indonesia and Malaysia at the 16th Tashkent International Travel Fair, here last week as the ASEAN neighbours stepped up plans to expand their profile and marketing presence in the rapidly growing Central Asian Republics. Although Indonesia and Malaysia have been exhibitors for years, the Tourism Authority...
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BANGKOK, 8 October 2010 – The PATA Thailand Chapter quarterly lunch, 19 October, will include a special presentation entitled, “Thailand Tourism Industries, the Marketing Challenges and Future Solutions.” The speaker will be Dr Seri Wongmonta, a popular talk show host on four radio and TV stations. He is also a leading academic at Suan...
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SAMUI, 8 October 2010 – Thailand’s annual series, the Amazing Adventure Race, returned to Samui Island last week underscoring the island’s growing popularity for both leisure and sports related tourism. Supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Thai Hotels Association the race attracted around 150 participants, who had to demonstrate skills in...
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BANGKOK, 8 October 2010 – Asia World Enterprise, a leading Thailand-based tour operators, announced Friday the launch a new department Asia World Destination Management (AWDM), which is essentially a re-brand of their existing MICE Department. It follows on from the appointment of Boontawee ‘Max’ Jantasuwan,earlier this year, who moved from Diethelm Events to help...
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BANGKOK, 8 October 2010 – Airports of Thailand has terminated the concession of Parking Management Company Ltd, following an incident last Friday when 40 armed men took over the airport’s Parking Lot 2, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported earlier this week. AoT said it would reopen the concession for bids with a decision...
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BANGKOK, 7 October 2010 – Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Kanchanaburi office and Kanchanaburi Hotel, Resort and Golf Course Association will host “Play golf only one price in Kanchanaburi”, 14 to 15 October. The programme is part of a domestic campaign tagged “Hug Thailand”. It offers a round of golf at Bt799 and an overnight...
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BANGKOK, 7 October 2010 – Bangkok Airways announced, Wednesday, it will launch a new Phuket–Samui–Trat route, 2 December, to connect Thailand’s eastern seaboard islands to Phuket on the Andaman Sea coast. Four weekly services will operate Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday using a 70-seat ATR72. The flight will depart from Phuket at 1255 and...
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BANGKOK, 7 October 2010 – Four new attractions and facilities will draw more incentive groups from Thailand, Singapore Tourism Board conventions and meetings director, Oliver Chong Wee Meng, reported Wednesday. Mr Chong said business tourism was at the core of the city state’s tourism strategy and a new international cruise terminal, the Garden by...
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BANGKOK,  7  October 2010 – Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau announced yesterday details of a marketing campaign ‘Believe in Thailand’ that will aim to improve the country’s image with events suppliers worldwide. A communications programme to drive “I Believe in Thailand” will be ready next month and according to the TCEB president the full...
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BANGKOK, 7 October 6, 2010 – Thailand’s currency strengthened beyond Bt30 to the dollar Wednesday for the first time in more than 13 years. The unit, which has appreciated around 10% this year, roared past the psychologically important level to hit Bt29.95 to the greenback, fanning concerns over the key export sector. Thailand, in...
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BANGKOK, 6 October 2010 – Thailand’s latest hospitality group, Thanyapura Hospitality Group, together with Phuket International Academy Sports & Leisure Club will launch new resorts in Phuket and Khao Sok. THG will open three properties  – Thanyachitra Retreat and Thanyachiva Lifestyle Resort in Phuket and Thanyamundra Organic Resort near Khao Sok National Park, 166...
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BANGKOK, 6 October 2010 – The Cabinet resolved, Tuesday, to maintain the emergency decree in four provinces for another three months, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported today. Deputy government spokesperson, Supachai Chaisamut, said at the close of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that the emergency law, due to expire on 6 October, in Bangkok,...
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BANGKOK, 6 October 6, 2010 – Thailand on Wednesday blamed a deadly blast at an apartment complex near Bangkok on the anti-government “Red Shirt” movement as investigators probed whether a bomb-maker caused the explosion accidentally. Authorities said the powerful blast, which killed four people and injured nine late Tuesday, was believed to be linked...
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BANGKOK, 5 October 2010 – Indonesia AirAsia will kick off a Surabaya-Bangkok service, 3 November, in additional to a daily service between Jakarta and Bangkok. It represents the first air service between Thailand and Indonesia’s second populous city in East Java. THAI once flew the route in the mid 90s and pulled out due...
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BANGKOK, 5 October 2010 – Minister of Tourism and Sports, Chumpol Silapa-archa, stated Monday that the country’s tourism sector will gradually return to normal after being hard hit by the political turmoil last May. Quoted by the National News Bureau of Thailand, the minister was commenting on the ministry’s progress at its 8th year...
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BANGKOK 1 October 2010 – Thailand Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, cancelled the state of emergency decree Friday in three more provinces in the Northeast, but despite Bangkok remaining under the special law, gunmen closed a parking lot at Bangkok’s international airport for most of today. The provinces where the emergency law has been lifted...
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BANGKOK, 1 October, 2010 – Thailand’s powerful new military chief, thought to take a hardline view of anti-government “Red Shirts,” vowed to protect the country’s monarchy in a ceremony Thursday to mark his appointment. General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who officially starts work Friday, is the Thai army’s 37th commander-in-chief and takes the helm at a...
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A cultural revival gathers pace. So do worries about fundamentalism IN THE so-called war on terror, Cambodia is a sleepy outpost on a tense South-East Asian front that stretches from the Philippines to Thailand. Western governments are, however, worried that trouble may be brewing in this backwater.
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The Americans may finally get Viktor Bout. But what will he tell them? A STREAM of foreigners trickles in, and usually out, of the fetid jails of Bangkok. Rarely is such a big fish seen as Viktor Bout, a former Russian military-intelligence officer turned arms trader, who faces an extradition hearing on October...
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BANGKOK, 30 September 2010 – The first Asian Hospitality and Travel Show will open this Friday at A Design Centre, Phuket. According to the organiser, Events Thailand, the 1 to 3 October show will help to position Phuket as a premier business destination in southern Thailand as well as to support the tourism industry....
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BANGKOK, 30 September 2010 – Amazing Bike Tours announced it will develop combination tours in South Thailand in June 2011 that will offer cycling and river cruises. The programme called “Boat and Bike” introduces a new concept that combines an island hopping cruise on a traditional Chinese sail boat with mountain bike activities. The...
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BANGKOK, 29 September 2010 – International visitors declined 2.17% during the second quarter of the year, while domestic travel leaped 29.61%, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports’ official statistics released Tuesday. Thailand earned Bt126.22 billion from international and domestic tourists during the second quarter of this year, The ministry released its official...
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BANGKOK, 28 September 2010 – In conjunction with World Tourism Day, Tourism Authority of Thailand handed out awards to 283 recipients in the industry last evening at Centara at Central World Hotel. The event included three presentations — the 8th Thailand Tourism Awards, 7th Friends of Thailand Awards and 6th Tourist Guide Awards. Initiated...
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BANGKOK, 27 September 2010 – The   Japanese embassy in Thailand has extended its visa service to provincial towns through its outsourced partner VFS Global. Visa application services will be fully online this week in six provinces available through VFS centres. The satellite services are located at Thailand Post offices in Phuket, Chon Buri...
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PATTAYA, 27 September 2010 – Pattaya will have around Bt20 million to spend on promotions in 2011, Tourism Authority of Thailand Pattaya office director, Niti Kongkrut, reported last week. The Bt20 million has been sourced from the Chon Buri provincial administrative Organisation and Pattaya Municipality and will be used to support 12 activities. “Our...
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BANGKOK, 24 September 2010 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand will host the 8th Thailand Tourism Awards 2010, 27 September to coincide with World Tourism Day. Announcing details of the award ceremony on its website, yesterday, TAT said they would have “special importance as they are being held in the year marking the 50th...
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BANGKOK, 24 September 2010 – Tourism Council of Thailand’s newly elected committee outlined a two-year plan, last Monday, to create a strategic plan for tourism development. The private sector’s generated strategy will be ambitious promising a 20 to 30% growth in visitors over three years,  2013 to 2018, TCT stated at a press briefing....
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Carrefour is quitting South-East Asia. Its rivals are waiting to pounce TRUE to its French origins, Carrefour’s flagship Bangkok hypermarket has a fine cheese selection. But the raw-milk Camembert and other olfactory treats are tucked away behind rows of rice, fish sauce and other Thai staples.
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