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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Tsunami fails to deter US tourists

Spain promotes Thailand as host of international tourism meeting

Thailand ready to host international tourism meeting

Cambodia achieves the one million target at last

Tourism starts to pick up after tsunamis

Thailand plans war-cabinet style committee for tourism

Qantas/BA rolls out best of Australia again

Move to speed up post-tsunami insurance payouts

Tsunami fails to deter US tourists

US tourists are continuing to come to Thailand as normal despite last month’s tsunamis, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which this year will launch a marketing offensive to attract more American visitors.

Santi Chudinthara, director of the TAT’s Los Angeles office, said that the US market had been largely unaffected by the tsunamis, with no visitors canceling their holiday bookings.

Anxious to keep up visitor numbers at a time when the tourism industry is desperate for income to help it get back on its feet, the TAT has been liaising with the US government to ensure that the news it presents on the situation in Thailand accurately reflects the post-tsunami situation.

The TAT’s US marketing offensive this year will focus on middle to high income tourists. A publicity campaign will concentrate on disseminating news and information about Thailand via electronic newsletters.

Television viewers across the US will also have the chance to learn about Thailand through the Travel Cafe program, which attracts 150 million viewers throughout the world via NBC and the Discovery Channel. Documentary journalists from the US will also be invited to undertake study tours to Thai tourism destinations. (TNA)


Spain promotes Thailand as host of international tourism meeting

Spain’s foreign minister has thanked Thailand for helping his country’s citizens caught up in last month’s tsunami catastrophe. Miguel Angel Moratinos Cuyaube also expressed condolences on behalf of the Spanish government and royal family on the losses suffered by Thailand in the disaster.

He was speaking to journalists in the Thai capital after a meeting with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The Spanish foreign minister said both countries would be seeking international cooperation to help rebuild Thailand’s tourism and fisheries industries.

‘’Spain will propose that the World Tourism Organization hold an international meeting in Thailand to help promote and restore the region’s industry,” the Spanish foreign minister said.

Spain will also send a team of fishery experts to meet with their Thai counterparts in government and industry to help build cooperation. In addition, the foreign minister invited PM Thaksin to visit his country during the Asia-Europe Summit, which is to be held in Spain this year. (TNA)


Thailand ready to host international tourism meeting

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has responded enthusiastically to a Spanish proposal for the Kingdom to host an international tourism meeting, saying that the nation was ready and willing to do so.

Speaking after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos Cuyaube, Thaksin said, “I told him that Thailand was ready to host this meeting in Phuket”.

The next step will be for the foreign ministers of the two countries to discuss the Spanish proposal, which would see international delegates descend on Phuket, the southern resort island which received extensive damage in last month’s tsunami.

The prime minister, who noted the importance of the tourism industry to the Thai economy, also confirmed that Spain would help encourage delegates from abroad to attend the Thai meeting.

Referring to the thousands of foreign tourists who lost their lives during the tsunami and the outpouring of international concern which has followed in its wake, Thaksin said, “Thailand is an important tourist destination, and a huge number of foreign tourists died…I want (these countries) to participate, to show their sorrow and to search for means of repair and restoration.”

This month, the prime ministers of three Scandinavian countries are scheduled to arrive in Thailand to hold talks with Thaksin and witness for themselves the locations where thousands of Scandinavian holidaymakers died. (TNA)


Cambodia achieves the one million target at last

Tourism to the Kingdom of Cambodia has been increasing by leaps and bounds and, for the first time, Phnom Penh International Airport (PPIA) has topped the one-million passenger mark, a goal previous minister for tourism, Veng Sereyvuth, had set more than five years ago.

In a context of strong growth of more than 19 percent in passenger traffic volume for the country last year, the airport welcomed its millionth passenger on December 27, 2004. The figure includes both international and domestic traffic.

Total international arrivals to PPIA grew by 24 percent in the first eleven months of last year to more than 298,000. Total international arrivals to Cambodia for the same period came to 867,225. The airport concessionaire, Societe Concessionaire de l’Aeroport, has set a goal of 1.5million passengers for 2005. (TTG Asia)


Tourism starts to pick up after tsunamis

Less than three weeks after massive tsunamis slammed into Thailand’s southern Andaman coastline, the number of foreign tourists arriving in the kingdom is beginning to return to normal, Tourism and Sports Minister Sontaya Khunplome confirmed on January 13.

Sontaya acknowledged that visitor numbers during the first week of the new year had fallen by 27 percent as a result of the tsunamis, but said that visitor arrivals were now up to 90 percent of their original levels.

Nonetheless, he conceded that few tourists were traveling to the six Andaman provinces affected by the tsunamis, including Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun, despite the fact that the region still had over 30,000 hotel rooms to accommodate visitors.

With the Andaman region heavily reliant on the tourism industry, the government is rushing through with projects aimed at restoring the area to normality as soon as possible, and many beaches have already been reopened for tourists. (TNA)


Thailand plans war-cabinet style committee for tourism

A new body to supervise the revival of tourism to Thailand, and particularly to its six tsunami-stricken provinces, will be formed on the instructions of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Called the Andaman Rehabilitation Committee (ARC) it will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, and will have overall responsibility for allocating funds for the recovery, including a special allocation to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Leading members of the private sector, including hoteliers, tour operators and airline representatives, are expected to be asked to sit on the committee which will have a full-time administrative staff. A spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism & Sports told reporters the committee will be the first of its kind ever formed in Thailand during peace-time.

“The ARC will be like a war-cabinet, it will have the power to bypass individual ministries. It looks as though it will have total control to fast-track any project that it deems necessary,” the spokesman said.

One of its first tasks will be to examine the ministry’s request for 1.76 billion baht (US$44 million) to revive inbound tourism. The request has been accompanied by a detailed report compiled with the co-operation of TAT. “If we get the necessary funds we will be able to get tourism moving again. We believe we can save the year by considerably boosting tourism to the stricken area during the green season (rainy months in Thailand),” the spokesman said.

Of the proposed 1.76 billion-baht budget, 500 million will be allocated to promoting Thailand overseas through special road shows and familiarization trips. About 100 million baht will be spent on promoting domestic tourism. Another 380 million baht will go to funding special international standard events in Thailand but the biggest single category of expenditure will be 780 million baht on advertising in overseas markets. (TTG Asia)


Qantas/BA rolls out best of Australia again

The second round of a ‘Best of Australia’ promotion by Qantas/British Airways has been launched, offering packages until the end of August starting at S$408.

To be sold through a consortium of travel agents, these packages include three nights accommodation, daily breakfast and a choice of one tour option. The first 500 bookings made via VISA will see a S$300 hotel voucher thrown in for future use.

In conjunction with the promotion, VISA cardholders can purchase return economy class tickets with the airlines to Australia from S$398 to Perth and S$618 to Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne or Sydney. (TTG Asia)


Move to speed up post-tsunami insurance payouts

The Thai government is working closely with insurance firms to speed up the settlement of claims from the devastating tsunami that hit the country’s six Andaman coast provinces on December 26.

Pojanee Tanawaranij, director-general of the Insurance Department, said the total sum insured was 70.6 billion baht. Of this, 1.7 billion baht was for life and travel insurance, while assets such as buildings and cars had been insured for nearly 69 billion baht.

Pojanee said while car and house claims had been dealt with, damage to hotels and resorts was still being calculated. However, she said surveys conducted by the various insurance bodies involved indicated that the final compensation payout for asset damage would be around three billion baht. “The Department of Insurance is in touch with all the insurance associations to ensure immediate settlement of claims, provided that all papers are in order,” she said. (TNA)