Dear Friends,
It has been a long time since we were able to talk Skål in Pattaya and I am delighted to announce that we will be re-starting Skål International Pattaya & East Thailand. There has never been a better time in my mind for Pattaya’s travel and tourism executives to have a forum to network and discuss common issues on a regular monthly basis.
Why now? Simply, Pattaya is expanding rapidly. Hilton, Sheraton, Accor (4), Centara (4) are here and many new hotel projects planned; a wide and diverse number of new Pattaya tourism executives stationed in and around Pattaya; the advent of the new ‘Superpark’ and ‘Million Island’ projects; a projected 3 million visitors annually to Pattaya and a record 20.5 million international visitors to Thailand and improved road; rail and airline access: all add up to make a professional association that links all branches of the tourism industry in Pattaya an urgent necessity!
In 2006 Pattaya hosted a most successful 67th Skål World Congress which, with the help of Pattaya City’s sponsorship, helped to showcase the very best that Pattaya had to offer.
Why should I join? With access to a database of almost 20,000 members in 87 countries in 500 clubs you are never far away from a friend who can help and guide you in developing your business with like-minded professionals. Just ask ‘old-hand’ Peter Malhotra, a founding member of Skål in Pattaya, what ‘doing business with friends’ really means.
Not just in Pattaya – we have 5 clubs in Thailand: Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui, Hua Hin and Bangkok. Visit http://www.skalthailand.org/. But also with friends in Europe, America, China, South Africa, Australia; Hong Kong; India; Cambodia… if you can name it we probably have a club there. In addition we have local, regional and international congresses. The annual World Congress for members to meet, network and socialize, at attractive ‘all inclusive’ fees, where you will be afforded the red-carpet treatment at a venue that’s bound to impress you.
What does it costs? Membership for Jan-Dec 2013 will be Bt 4500 per year per member (this is similar to our other clubs and will be reviewed by the Pattaya Executive Committee once formed by the Pattaya members), payable at the same time as you apply (see the membership application form by going to the following link http://skal.org/forms/pdf_forms/form.pdf
What happens next? Quite easy really… of the 10 pax that have already expressed interest in getting the club up and running we will ask them to find one more colleague each and they in turn one more. My target is 30 pax in 2013 growing to 50-60 pax by 2014, in plenty time for AEC2015. Have you joined yet?
To help this process we already have a Skål website and area dedicated to the Pattaya Club (Thailand’s sixth). Meetings will kick off in late Jan/early Feb after peak season, Xmas, New Year, Russian Orthodox Christmas and ATF2013 (Laos 21-24 Jan). Around this time Skål International Thailand (SIT) will also organize an evening event/cocktail in Pattaya so you can learn more, meet your industry colleagues and hear of our future plans.
Yours sincerely,
Skål!
Andrew Wood
President Skål Thailand
