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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Pattaya sets up network to rescue environment

THAI to use new plane on Mae Hong Son route

Sport tourism: One of the fastest growing areas of the global travel and tourism industry

Circle Asia with Star Alliance

All government zoos are free from bird flu

Phuket bans foreign tour guides

STB packs value for Thai and Indonesia travelers

Bangkok Airways upgrades Singapore-Samui link

Air India sets US$86 million for fleet upgrade

International aviation meeting helps solve Thai tourism crisis

Pattaya sets up network to rescue environment

Pattaya’s administration is rushing to build a network of local conservationists to help save the local environment.

Announcing the resort’s plans on October 9, Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn spoke of the urgent need to instill environmental awareness among the town’s residents in the face of global environmental crisis.

Recent environmental campaigns by the town include a highly successful recycling campaign, which earned the town 6,430 baht to be sent to temples within the municipal district.

Despite being one of the best known tourist resorts in Thailand, Pattaya has suffered in the past from serious environmental degradation, but has taken steps to clean up its image. (TNA)


THAI to use new plane on Mae Hong Son route

Thai Airways today announced on October 24 that it would introduce one of its new aircraft on the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son route to replace an older craft being taken out of service for maintenance work, ending weeks of fears among local tourism businesses that the province would be left without an air service during the tourism high season.

Thewan Damronghat, manager of the airline’s Mae Hong Son office, said that the airline would alter its flight schedule from October 31, 2004 to March 26, 2005, using an ATR.72 aircraft to serve five daily flights between the two provinces. The new aircraft will temporarily replace the airline’s ATR plane, which needs maintenance work before it can resume operations.

THAI’s move was welcomed by Phoolsak Suntornpanich, former head of the Mae Hong Son Chamber of Commerce, who said that aircraft substitution would ensure that the province’s tourism industry was not affected during the high season. (TNA)


Sport tourism: One of the fastest growing areas of the global travel and tourism industry

Sport tourism is a multi-billion dollar business, one of the fastest growing areas of the $4.5 trillion global travel and tourism industry. By 2011, travel and tourism is expected to by more than 10 percent of the global gross domestic product. The economies of cities, regions and even countries around the world are increasingly reliant on the visiting golfer and skier or the traveling football, rugby or cricket supporter. In some countries, sport can account for as much as 25 percent of all tourism receipts.

The sport tourist is at the heart of strategies that spend tens of millions pf dollars on attracting an Olympic Games or World Cup - Australia spent $1.7 of government money on the 2000 Olympics and in reward has a 10-year legacy of sport tourism that make ups part of the $4.3 billion in added currency bought by the Games. These flagship events help build new transport systems, improve airports and clean up cities - all because the sport tourist is coming to town.

Sport tourists are passionate, high-spending, enjoy new sporting experiences and often stimulate other tourism. Their direct benefit to a destination is cash - their indirect benefit can be years of follow-on tourists. Sport tourism is now a tool to achieve many things - to make- money, create thousands of new jobs and even help change cultural perceptions such as in the Middle East and South Africa. (Travel Wire News)


Circle Asia with Star Alliance

Star Alliance has introduced the Circle Asia Fare, which can be used for a circle trip covering North Asia, Southeast Asia and Southwest Pacific.

The fare is available for sale and travel as of November 1 and the journey may commence from any destination served by a member carrier in these regions, whereby the origin and final destination must be the same country.

The fare is available at two mileage levels, either covering 15,000 or 18,000 miles, and is offered for travel in First, Business or Economy Class. The itinerary may cover up to 18 sectors and must include at least two stopovers, but only one stopover per city is permitted. Tickets issued on this fare are valid for a maximum of six months and require a minimum stay of three days.

Countries covered by the fare include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

The Circle Asia Fare allows mileage accrual on any of the member carrier’s frequent flyer programs. (TTG Asia)


All government zoos are free from bird flu

All five government-run zoos are free from bird flu and safe for tourists, according to the director-general of the Zoological Park Organization, Sophon Dumnui. Bird gardens at all the country’s five zoos do not need to be closed, he said.

The authorities have done random checks of the birds and poultry in the zoos and the results have all been negative. The tests results have also been submitted daily to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for further laboratory tests. Sophon made his comments in response to public concern that a large number of children had visited the zoos during the school break. (TNA)


Phuket bans foreign tour guides

The provincial authorities in Thailand’s southern resort island of Phuket have abolished a long-standing practice which allowed foreign tour operators to illicitly use native speakers, instead of Thais, as guides, the provincial governor Udomsak Assawarangkul announced.

So-called ‘sitting guides’ have been hired by foreign tour companies, mostly Korean owned firms, for the sake of legal formality. Under the Thai law, those firms can no longer hire foreign guides, but only Thai nationals to service their clients.

The governor said Thai guides would be regularly offered training courses in Korean and other languages. There is an acute need for Korean-speaking Thai tour guides in Phuket, he said.

There are also a large number of foreigners working in other positions legally reserved for Thais, including sales people and business brokers, Udomsak said. He said a campaign to inspect local businesses and identify foreigners working illegally would be launched soon. (TNA)


STB packs value for Thai and Indonesia travelers

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), riding on the emergence of low-cost carriers, has launched a new ‘Uniquely Singapore Fun Breaks’ initiative to boost arrivals from the region. The initiative, to promote Singapore as an accessible, fun getaway year-round, will be an ongoing effort and will be marketed through STB’s regional offices.

Targeting young professionals and families, STB has been working with airlines and travel agents by jointly promoting and advertising tour packages, which includes value added premiums such as discounts for retail purchases and at food and beverage outlets, in the overseas markets.

Currently, special packages for the Thai and Indonesian markets are available and STB will continue to work with trade partners to develop new products to appeal to the various segments of visitors.

To assist travelers, STB is also looking to create a one-stop online site for all purchases, with deals for airfare, accommodation, event tickets and lifestyle services.

Airfares have dropped by 15 to 40 per cent in the Jakarta and Bangkok sectors, since the entry of low-cost carriers. And as compared to 2002, visitor arrivals have grown in the two sectors. From January to August of 2004, arrivals from Indonesia and Thailand grew 28 percent and 24 percent respectively. (TTG Asia)


Bangkok Airways upgrades Singapore-Samui link

Bangkok Airways’ launch of a Boeing 717-200 service between Singapore and Samui Island on October 31, will cut travel time by one hour and increase capacity from 70 seats to 120 seats on the four-times-a-week flight.

Bangkok Airways vice-president corporate communications, M L Nandhika Varavarn, who was in Singapore to promote the new service to the trade, said the airline would consider increasing it to a daily service if there was demand.

The airline and a number of Samui Island hotels and attractions are working together to offer the Sabai Samui Package, starting from two nights and inclusive of air fare, hotel, breakfast and transfers.

The airline’s sales manager-Singapore, Komkrit Ngamwongwirot, said a consortium of between 12 and 15 agents would be formed to promote the new service.

“The package, with a lead-in price of S$468 (US$275) was offered this year between February and June and we sold about 400 room nights. For 2005 with more seats, more hotels and more agencies participating, the lead-in price is expected to be between 10 and 15 percent lower and we expect to sell between 600 and 700 room nights under the package,” Komkrit said.

About 800 new hotel rooms are expected to be added on Samui Island over the next 12 months and the 18-hole Santiburi Resort Golf Course opened in March this year. (TTG Asia)


Air India sets US$86 million for fleet upgrade

Air India has set aside US$86 million to refurbish its Boeing B747-400 and Airbus A310-300 and improve in-flight services and even basic amenities, according to director-public relations, Jitender Bhargava.

The investment will be spent on the personal in-flight entertainment system (IFES), Internet connectivity, phone-on-air facility, dynamic lighting and power facility for laptops and new seats. Its B747-400s will be equipped with new equipment to provide a better onboard dining experience. New toilets will also be added.

Air India has been focusing on its long haul routes to Europe and the US. “Air-India has, in the past 20 months, increased services to the US from 10 to 23, and these are likely to increase to 25 per week in October 2005,” Bhargava said. (TTG Asia)


International aviation meeting helps solve Thai tourism crisis

The World Airlines Clubs Association (WACA)’s decision to host its 37th annual general meeting in Cha-am, a renowned resort site in Thailand on October 26, is expected to help the country eradicate its currently negative image of a country rife with bird flu and insurgency, the director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Central Region office, Region 2 said.

Silachai Surai said that the meeting highlighted the capability of the resorts of Cha-am and Hua Hin to host international level conferences – particularly important given that the delegates to the WACA meeting are expected to publicize their experiences of Thailand to airlines around the world.

Most importantly, he said, the meeting would help do away with rumors concerning Thailand’s avian flu situation and militant action in the three southern border provinces, generating confidence that neither bird flu, nor southern violence were affecting tourists visiting the kingdom. (TNA)


 

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