Hoteliers compiling information on available rooms, prices

DASTA Deputy Director Damrong Saengkaweelert discusses progress in collecting data for a master database to track the number of hotel rooms available in the Pattaya area and how many tourists will use them.

Urasin Khantaraphan
Regional tourism organizations continued work on a master database to track the number of hotel rooms available in the Pattaya area and how many tourists will use them.
The Designated Area for Sustainable Tourism Administration met Sept. 26 at the Aiyara Grand Hotel with the Thai Hotel Association Eastern Region, Pattaya Business & Tourism Association and Pattaya Tourism Office to further the project, which has seen countless numbers of meetings.
DASTA Deputy Director Damrong Saengkaweelert and executives from each group spoke on the progress in collecting data, as well as technical aspects related to programming and accessing the database.
The database project was launched to catalog, in one place, a complete list of resorts, hotels, condominiums, guesthouses and hostels offering rooms for rent to short- and long-stay tourists. The database also collects information on details such as star ratings and features.
The goal is to use to allow accommodations providers to analyze the data to determine the optimal price to charge for particular types of rooms, as well as let developers know what type and how many rooms to build.
To date, 2,174 accommodations providers have registered to contribute to the database with 136,945 rooms available. New providers can register online at tis.DASTA.or.th.
DASTA officials also updated participants on its project to monitor traffic flow and tourism arrivals via 12 closed-circuit cameras it installed in the Pattaya area.
The cameras - located at the Dongtan Police Station, Walking Street, Central Pattaya, Naklua Soi 22, Third Road, Pattaya Floating Market, Bali Hai Pier, Koh Larn Pier, Koh Larn’s Tawaen Beach and other sites on Koh Larn - track tourist flows to popular areas and give hoteliers an idea of where in the region rooms are needed, DASTA said.

Fitch Ratings maintains Thailand’s credit rating at BBB+

Fitch Ratings has maintained Thailand’s credit rating at BBB+ and is awaiting the government’s economic stimulation measures.
James McCormack, global head of sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings Co. in London, said his company had a stable outlook on the Thai economy and would review its rating for Thailand after considering its new economic stimulation measures.
McCormack commented that the measures should stimulate investment which the country had lacked for a long time which should result in the economy expanding by 4 percent next year. The company supports the Thai government in increasing infrastructure investment and does not think that the economic stimulation measures will negatively impact the fiscal well-being of the country.
Vallop Vitanakorn, vice chairman of the Thai National Shippers’ Council, said the council predicted the value of Thai exports would drop 0.25 percent this year and the decline would continue for the second consecutive year in 2014 after a fall of 0.4 percent last year.
The council expects the value of Thai exports to stand at US$227 billion throughout this year as exports to all markets have fallen except cross-border trade with Cambodian, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, which has risen 12 percent.
Exports to general markets have shrunk because global markets have grown more slowly than expected.
The value of Thai exports in August this year amounted to US$18.943 billion, falling 7.40 percent.
Exports in the first eight months stood at US$150.544 billion, dropping 1.36 percent.
Declining exports were rubber, automobiles and auto parts. Growing exports included rice, frozen and processed vegetables and fruit, and frozen chicken. (MCOT)

Thai business operators urged to be ready for AEC

The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) encouraged Thai business operators to prepare for a new environment under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
In a seminar on the future of Thai industries after the formation of the AEC held in Bangkok last week, TDRI Chairman Somkiat Tangkitvanich said Thai industrialists had to expand their perspectives to the regional level. He urged them to consider ASEAN as both markets and production bases.
He also said that Thai businessmen were expanding their operations to neighboring countries and their businesses were either wholly owned enterprises or joint-ventures using local manufacturers’ services.
The TDRI chairman commented that there were challenges in ASEAN connectivity, including import tariffs, especially in relation to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, certificates of origin, the readiness of border checkpoints and corruption among border checkpoint staff.
Vasin Vanichvoranun, executive vice president of Kasikornbank, said Thailand’s competitiveness ranks 37th among 148 countries, a position showing moderate competitive capacity.
He said Thailand lagged behind several Southeast Asian countries and many other nations with an edge for their innovation.
Vasin urged Thailand to improve the efficiency of its workers, technological readiness, finance and its capabilities of education and advanced training. (MCOT)