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Cathay Pacific
is recruiting cabin staff
Cathay Pacific Airways is recruiting 500 new cabin crew
staff to handle additional flights as the airline eyes the expansion of its
fleet. Cathay, which currently employs a cabin crew of about 5,700, will
hire an extra 400 Hong Kong-based flight attendants and 100 to be based in
London.
Cathay is also hoping to increase its three weekly
flights to Beijing to daily service, and to begin flights between Hong Kong
and Shanghai. The carrier resumed flights to the Chinese capital city last
month after a 13-year break. The Hong Kong and Chinese governments are
discussing giving Cathay permission to operate more flights to the mainland.
“Healthy Work Place”
award goes to Amari Watergate
Dr.
Praphan Kitisin (right), deputy governor of Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration, recently presented a gold certificate to Pierre Andre
Pelletier (left), general manager of Amari Watergate Hotel, for winning the
“Healthy Work Place” Award. The presentation took place at Bangkok Youth
Center (Thai-Japanese) in Dindaeng.
‘Elite Card’ members
to be allowed to own land
The world’s rich and famous who shell out 1 million
baht each to sign up for the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s ‘Elite
Card’ scheme will be given the legal right to own land and property in
Thailand, under a new deal proposed on January 22.
Somjainuek Engtrakul, permanent secretary for finance and
head of the board of Thailand Privilege Card Co. Ltd. that the company would
increase the privileges offered to Elite Card members, with the Tourism
Authority of Thailand (TAT) amending legislation to allow members to own
land and property within exclusive ‘Tourism Estates’.
However, there will be restrictions on ownership -
members of the Elite Card scheme will only be allowed to own one rai of
land, and will not be able to sell or transfer it within a five-year period.
Members whose membership expires will be forced to sell the land and
property back to the company.
The new proposals will be forwarded to the Ministry of
Tourism and Sports for further consideration.
Under the new plans, members will also have use of an
upgraded Bangkok Sports Club, and will be able to use the facilities offered
by the Royal Navy conference room. At the same time, golfer Jack Nicklaus
will be invited to design new golfing facilities to Elite Card members at
the Thap Lamu golf course in Phang-gna Province.
The various upgrades, which are expected to be completed
within 18 months, will be paid for from membership fees and loans from
commercial banks, and are expected to run to over 5 billion baht. Somjainuek
and Juthamas said that a marketing offensive for the Elite Cards would begin
in earnest on 1 March. (TNA)
Marine clean-up makes way for mass wedding
Sprucing up a church for a wedding is reasonably easy, but
how do you clean up the venue when the marriage ceremony is to be held in the
sea? This is the problem facing teams of divers in the southern resort province
in Trang, who are making preparations for a mass underwater wedding ceremony on
Valentine’s Day.
The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources will launch
the clean-up operation on February 3rd with the aim of creating a pristine
marine environment around Kradan Island.
The area is noted for its coral, seaweed, dugongs and
underwater caves, as well as its beautiful islands and white sand beaches.
It is hoped that the mass wedding ceremony on February 14
will encourage locals and foreigners alike to conserve the area’s marine
resources, while the clean-up operation will make them realize the environmental
damage caused by litter. (TNA)
Air India specials
for Europe/USA
New promotions have been introduced for passengers
traveling by First and Executive Class on the Europe/USA sectors. Passengers
bound for Newark can now have a free hotel night in Paris and those
traveling to London, Paris, Frankfurt and Newark are being provided with
limousine pick-up service for arrival and departure. This is in addition to
the Companion Free Scheme that First and Executive Class passengers are
eligible on full IATA fare.
Passengers traveling on full IATA fares to UK, Europe and
US, but not taking a companion, can now get a free ticket to Dubai in lieu
of the companion.
Phuket’s tourist submarine
gets poor response
Visitors to Phuket now have a new attraction to draw them
to the island - one of the world’s first tourist submarines. But although
the ‘Deepstar’ has been operating since the beginning of the year,
insufficient publicity has curbed response, which operators Phuket Submarine
Co. now hope they can turn around.
The number of foreign visitors has been well below
target, with only around 40-50 passengers a day, compared to expectations of
200. The company blamed the low take-up rate on poor publicity, while also
conceding that visibility in the waters where the submarine was operating
was poor. The sub has now moved its operations to Mai Thon Island, where
visibility is better.
‘Deepstar’ is being supported both by the Tourism
Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Board of Investment (BOI). One of only a
few of its kind in the world, the submersible can take up to 48 passengers
for journeys of 40 minutes under the sea. (TNA)
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