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Chaophya Park Hotel hosts “thank you” party
The management of the Chaophya Park Hotel in
Bangkok, led by Apinya Loychusak, Managing Director and Andrew J Wood,
General Manager hosted an annual thank you party for invited guests recently
entitled “U R Special.” The party also officially opened the hotel’s newest
dining venue “Al Massimo Ristorante Italiano” and “Wine Cellar.” Around
three hundred guests attended the event. Shown in the picture are the
winners of the Top Awards given to acknowledge outstanding support to the
hotel during the past year.
Contracts signed for Pattaya’s
new Amari Plaza Hotel
Contract Signing: (Left to right)
Mr. Lon Ballard, Co-Director, Nova Group, Mr. Rony Fineman, President, Nova
Group, Mr. Kurt Rufli, Managing Director, Amari Hotels and Resorts and Mr. Kevin
Hall, Deputy Managing Director, Amari Hotels and Resorts
On Wednesday, February 7, an official contract signing
ceremony took place at the Amari Watergate Hotel, Bangkok for the new Amari
Plaza Hotel in Pattaya.
The Amari Plaza Hotel is set to make an ideal accommodation choice for the
discerning business traveler as the 4-star hotel will sit comfortably in a quiet
, but central location, with easy access from the main roads by car and walking
distance from banks, restaurants and shopping areas.
The hotel, which will be situated just off Pattaya 2nd Road will also offer a
superb range of accommodation and modern convenience, with some 200 rooms and
suites enjoying wireless and broadband internet access, flat-screen TVs, CD/DVD
players, tea & coffee-making facilities as well as a pool, restaurant, lobby and
pool bar, fitness, sauna and ample parking.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Kurt Rufli, Managing Director of Amari
Hotels and Resorts commented: “We are very enthusiastic indeed about this new
venture and the collaboration between Nova Group and Amari, as part of our
on-going expansion in Pattaya.”
Amari continues to raise the bar in Pattaya and aims to remain at the forefront
of development in the continuously and rapidly progressing Eastern Seaboard
Area, which is set to generate increased levels of demand for the hospitality
industry.
The Amari Plaza Hotel will open in 2009.
Qatar upgrades on Bangkok route
Qatar Airways has introduced new in-flight services and
features on its twice-daily Bangkok-Doha services.
Operating with Airbus A330, the airline’s Bangkok-Doha flights now feature a
fresh two-class configuration of up to 24 seats in business class and 259 seats
in economy.
The airline’s area manager for Thailand and Cambodia, Mr. Rohan Seneviratne,
said the revamped features and the new fine dining experience were to cope with
the rapid growth in the Bangkok-Doha route. He said the airline began operating
on the route with just four flights weekly almost six years ago, and the
frequencies had been increased by 40 per cent from 10 to 14 flights per week in
June last year.
“The load factor on the route is extremely high of more than 85 per cent. We are
looking to expand our frequencies as under the bilateral agreement between
Thailand and Qatar, we can operate more flights into Thailand.”
In line with the airline’s plan to launch a new Doha-Bali service at the end of
March, Qatar Airways is in Bangkok under discussion with Indian Airlines to
offer travellers from Thailand a four-day/three-night tour package to Bali.
(TTG)
ASEAN aspires to emulate the Caribbean by wooing cruise liners
Satish Gupta (eTN Asia)
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has initiated a two-year plan
to develop the region as an attractive cruise destination. There are also plans
to improve port infrastructure to cater to larger ships and higher volume of
passengers.
“Some 1.2 million tourists are expected to cruise Asia by 2020, and ASEAN wants
to capture at least half of that market as soon as possible,” reported Channel
News Asia. “The ASEAN cruise industry is currently not in the same league as
Caribbean cruises, but it’s aiming high and hopes to woo tourists from the US,
Europe, Australia and New Zealand.”
“The region needs a concerted effort to become a compelling cruise destination”,
Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran told The Straits
Times.
Kevin Leong, senior director, Special Projects, Singapore Tourism Board added,
“We will work closely with the cruise industry, the cruise lines as well as
cruise agencies and industry associations in the business. We hope to launch a
program to do seminars to the travel industry and secondly, with the
associations, we plan to tap on their expertise at training cruise specialists
around the world”, said (STB)
Other than sea links, air links are also being discussed.
Iswaran referred to an open aviation regime, which will pave the way for more
flights and competitive airfares. This, in turn, will give ASEAN member states
the extra boost to emerge into booming tourism markets. ASEAN is also bringing
forward a plan to permit unlimited flights between the capital cities of member
countries by next year, according to media. Singapore, Thailand and Brunei
already have the freedom to fly to each other’s cities.
Last year ASEAN attracted over 56 million visitors; an eight percent jump over
2005. Among these, intra-ASEAN travel accounted for 49 percent of the arrivals.
Power output increased by private supplier
to meet industrial demand in Rayong
(From left) Yutaka Kikuta, Steven Buckley, Vince
Harris, Suntorn Rattanawaraha and Ong-art Promjanyakul perform the grand
opening ceremony.
A reciprocating gas engine was brought in to
produce more electricity to meet the area’s needs.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Thai National Power Co Ltd has provided extra power supply for companies
located at Siam Eastern Industrial Park in Rayong Province, whose needs have
been increasing at the rate of six to seven megawatts per year.
The project, named Rayong National Power and costing 610 million baht, was
commissioned on January 27.
Amongst those at the ceremony were Suntorn Rattanawaraha, deputy governor of
Rayong, Ong-art Promjanyakul, deputy director general of the Department of
Energy Business at the Ministry of Energy, Yutaka Kikuta, an energy
specialist at the Embassy of Japan, Steven Buckley, director of UK trade and
investment at the British Embassy, and Vince Harris, regional managing
director, Asia International Power Plc and chairman of the Thai National
Power Co Ltd and Rayong National Power Co Ltd.
Harris said that the total investment for this project was 610 million baht,
or 8.6 million pounds sterling. The power plant uses four reciprocating gas
engines each rated at 6.5 megawatts to initially supply 22.4 megawatts, and
there is capacity to later increase the plant to seven gas engines as demand
increases.
Ong-art said that since 2000 Thai National Power has been producing
electricity for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand at the rate
of 90 megawatts according to the long-term sales contract. Some of the
electricity sold, approximately 28 megawatts, is for the industrial group in
the Siam Eastern Industrial Park.
In 2005, the company decided to invest in increasing the power output to
meet the continually growing demand of industry in the area.
Thai National Power is increasing its production
of electricity.
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