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Thai Garden Resort holds fire prevention training
Staff learns how to handle a dangerous
situation.
Danilo Becker
Thai Garden Resort held his annual fire prevention training in
cooperation with the Pattaya City Fire Department on November 20 in and
in front of the Moon River Pub.
The training was separated in two sections:
The first part took place in the morning between 9am and 1pm in the Moon
River Pub, where the members of the fire department informed the staff
of the TGR how to use the right fire extinguishers in the right time for
the different kinds of fire. They have been trained how to avoid
dangerous situations and the right handling with dangerous equipment,
such as gas bottles or electric devices. This training was supported by
a PowerPoint presentation.
After the theory training in the morning, they started in the afternoon
with the praxis session in and in front of the Moon River Pub. The Fire
Department has been teaching our staff how to find a way out from a room
or building, if it is impossible to see. This was followed by live fire
training, following the motto “learning by doing”.
At about 4pm the training was finished and beside a lot of helpful
information and a lot of new experiences, it was a lot of fun for
everyone too.
We would like to say a special thanks to the Pattaya City Fire
Department.
Thai Garden Resort staff receives hands on
training on how to extinguish a fire.
Phornsiri will not extend
term as TAT governor
Watchiranont Thongtep, TTG Asia
At a time when Thailand’s tourism is wading through another
inevitably tough year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is poised
to lose what the trade hails as one of TAT’s best governors.
By law, TAT’s governor must not be more than 60 years of age. Outgoing
governor, Ms Phornsiri Manoharn, will turn 60 in March next year, hence
she will automatically end her tenure concluding two years and two
months in the top post.
Ms Phornsiri told TTG Daily News she would be stepping down and would
not be extending her term. Now PATA chairman-elected for 2008/2009, she
said she would spend her post-TAT governor days as chairman of PATA.
TAT board was ready to appoint a selection committee for the new
governor at the monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 26. The selection
process will take about six months. An acting governor is expected to be
appointed to fill the gap while the committee hunts for a suitable
candidate.
“Personally, I prefer my successor to come from within TAT. It can be
any of the deputy governors, as each one of them has his own distinctive
strength, and can continue what I have formulated without any glitches,”
Ms Phornsiri added.
The trade also agrees that the new governor should be an insider.
Association of Travel Agents president, Apichart Sankary, said the new
governor should have broad international marketing experience, and be
tough enough to deal with the current crisis. “He or she should also
have the ability to forge close ties with the private sector.”
Tourism Council of Thailand president, Kongkit Hiranyakij, added the new
governor should be creative in terms of marketing and savvy in terms of
financial management.
City focuses on health tourism
Pramote Channgam
Pattaya City is to develop further its potential as a destination for
health tourism.
In health tourism, travelers visit destinations congenial to the improvement of
their health. These visitors seek healthy and natural locations in which they
can make use of available services such as health advice, correct exercise,
massage, sauna, herbal remedy, meditation, holistic alternative and traditional
medicine.
 Assist.
Prof. Siriwan Saereerat (right) presents her project.
It also could be that visitors come to use conventional health services in
hospitals with good services for checkup and medical treatment, perhaps at a
lower cost than in their own countries.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay recently chaired a meeting at city hall to discuss
a strategic plan for health and medical services drawn up by Assistant Professor
Siriwan Saereerat, which also involved collecting data on foreign health
tourists to Pattaya.
Siriwan was on hand to present her findings.
Research data is being gathered by Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, Pattaya Memorial
Hospital and Pattaya International Hospital, showing that most of their patients
are foreigners.
Verawat said the research data came at no cost to the city, which will receive a
large amount of beneficial data on health tourism to the Pattaya.
PATA questions UK’s decision to raise air departure taxes
The UK government’s recent decision to raise departure taxes from British
airports is a move that PATA’s interim president and CEO Brian Deeson believes
to be short-sighted and self-defeating.
“At a time when the travel and tourism industry is facing an unprecedented
threat to long-term financial stability, we see a government in Europe imposing
tax increases which pose a real threat to jobs and businesses not only in the UK
but in destinations across the Asia-Pacific region,” Deeson said.
“This move by the UK government is simply about increasing revenues for the
state under the very dubious cover of consolidating its green credentials.”
PATA supports the views expressed today by the Australian Tourism Export
Council, particularly in respect to the threat to tourism markets in emerging
markets such as the south Pacific.
Deeson added, “Ironically this is a move by the British government that could
easily backfire. Travellers seeking value on long haul routes may now choose an
airport in mainland Europe as their principal point of entry and exit.
“This will increase short haul traffic to and from the UK and increase carbon
emissions. Long haul flights, by comparison, are more environmentally-friendly
on a mile-by-mile basis.
“We’re happy to pay our fair share but these latest tax increases are a
disproportionate burden for our industry to bear.” (TTG Asia)
Travel advisories against Thailand
Sim Kok Chwee,
Singapore (TTG Asia)
Bangkok’s situation has resulted in some countries issuing fresh travel
advisories against Thailand.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warned of
“large-scale political demonstrations” and highlighted the closure of Bangkok
Suvarnabhumi Airport. It advises Australians to check with airlines on the
status of their flights and seek updates on the situation at the airport before
travelling to the airport. Australians are also warned to avoid Government
House, Parliament building and the police headquarters.
New Zealand, too, has issued a new advisory asking New Zealanders to defer
travel to the Thai capital. New Zealanders already at the airport are advised to
seek the company of fellow tourists and stay close to relevant information
counters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has earlier given Thailand
an “extreme risk” label for its border dispute with Cambodia and a “high risk”
advisory for its insurgency woes in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala,
Pattani and Songkla.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs warns its citizens to “exercise extreme
caution” which falls short of advising them to defer non-essential travel. It
informs about the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport and labels the situation in
Bangkok “highly volatile and unpredictable”.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises its citizens to “be extra careful
at the airport” and to avoid the old city centre, Queen Sirikit Convention
Centre and other areas where demonstrations are taking place.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued any fresh travel advisory
and according to an officer reached on the telephone, the previous advisory
issued on September 24, 2008 suffices as the situation is “the same”.
According to ChannelnewsAsia, fresh travel advisories have also been issued by
the governments of Malaysia and Russia, the latter an increasingly important
source of visitors to Thailand.
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