A very well attended press conference was held at the Cape Dara Hotel on Wednesday the 25th of June for the official launch of the North Pattaya Alliance.
Tony Malhotra, the deputy managing director of the Pattaya Mail Media Group and president of Skål Pattaya & East Thailand, expertly emceed the proceedings, introducing guest speakers and representatives from the seven partner hotels, moving form English to Thai with ease.
Tony Malhotra (Pattaya Mail & Skål) introduces members the NPA (l-R) Brendan Daly (Amari Pattaya), Chatchawal Supachayanont (Dusit Thani Pattaya), Poramet Amatyakul, Director of the TAT Thailand, Puripan Bunnag, Director of the Domestic MICE Department and Bob James, MD of Sheerbravado Design & Marketing.
Cape Dara GM Sittidej Rochnavibhata welcomed the guests, and said it was a pleasure to host the launch of NPA.
David Barrett, the executive director of events for the Amari Watergate Bangkok and the Amari Orchid Pattaya, stated that the North Pattaya Alliance (NPA) has been some 18 months in the planning. The idea stems back to the November 2012 signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding for major hotels in the area to work collectively to highlight the attraction and entertainment facilities of North Pattaya, and how together they can cater for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing & exhibitions) customers and for the ever-growing Indian wedding market.
(l-r) Thanagon Poungbubchart, PR & MarCom Manager of the Holiday Inn Pattaya, Prarinya Charoenrat, Director of Rooms Pullman Pattaya Hotel G, Sophon Vongchatchainont, General Manager of Pullman Pattaya Hotel G and Somkit Tonsaiphet, General Manager of Zign Hotel Pattaya.
Seven hotels are participating in the Alliance, namely the Holiday Inn, Amari Orchid, Dusit Thani, Cape Dara Resort, Centara Grand Mirage, Pullman Pattaya Hotel G & Zign Hotel.
Each property has its own identity, features and attracts different nationalities, yet by working together they can assist in hosting bigger meetings, seminars and so on.
The guest speakers comprised of Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, Chatchawal Supachayanont, the general manager of the Dusit Thani, Bob James, managing director of Sheerbravado Design & Marketing, Poramet Amatyakul, TAT director, Puripan Bunnag, director of the Domestic MICE Department (TCEB) & Brendan Daly, GM of the Amari Orchid Pattaya, who gave an overview of what NPA aims to achieve.
(L to R) David Barrett, Executive Director, Events of the Amari Watergate Bangkok & Amari Orchid Pattaya, Chatchawal Supachayanont, General Manager of the Dusit Thani Pattaya, Brendan Daly, General Manager of the Amari Pattaya and Tony Malhotra, Deputy MD of the Pattaya Mail Media Group
Brendan stated that Thailand has become the destination to host Indian weddings, as the it is cheaper to fly the hundreds of guests here and enjoy the first class hotels and beaches than to stay in India.
At present 40% of Indian weddings that are held in Thailand are in Phuket, 30% in Hua Hin and 15% in Pattaya.
The NPA is working to enhance that figure by working together to stage these colourful events that often run for 2-3 days.
The Tourist Authority of Thailand, City Hall and TCEP have all given their support to ensuring that NPA is a huge success.
Brendan continued that the first major event for the NPA will be the Festival of Rice which will take place on the 11th & 12th of October.
Each of the partner hotels will have different cuisines that highlight the versatility of rice, such as Szechuan, Cantonese, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Indonesian Portuguese and of course Thai.
(L to R) Orasa Awutkom, Assistant Director of TAT Pattaya, Jantana Tanprasit, Marketing Manager of Sheerbravado Design & Marketing and Bob James, Managing Director of Sheerbravado Design & Marketing.
The Amari Orchid will also hold a rice farmers market and host a cook-off between the general managers of the seven partner hotels against local expatriate ladies. There will also be workshops, a lantern festival and kite display all made from rice paper.
Sheerbravado, the marketing company behind the NPA, came up with the slogan ‘North Pattaya – More than you think” and with these seven popular hotels coupled with an integrated online presence including a soon to be launched website www.pattayamore.com, facebook page and YouTube page, the North Pattaya Alliance is sure to leave its mark on promoting tourism for the MICE and Indian weddings markets as well as creating the exciting Festival of Rice in October.
Sittidej Rochnavibhata, General Manger of the Cape Dara Resort Pattaya gives the opening speech.
Bob James, Managing Director of Sheerbravado Design & Marketing, explains how important branding is in the tourism market.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome says forming the NPA is an excellent idea.
Poramet Amatyakul, Director of the TAT Thailand, said that Pattaya has all the 4 main concepts, which are “Different, New, Big and Popular”.
Brendan Daly GM of Amari Pattaya said the NPA intends to grab the No. 1 spot in Thailand for Indian weddings.
Chatchawal Supachayanont, General Manager of the Dusit Thani Pattaya explains the objectives of the North Pattaya Alliance (NPA).
Puripan Bunnag, Director of the Domestic MICE Department describes the 7 Domestic MICE cities in Thailand.
Thumbs up for the success of the “North Pattaya – more than you think…” Alliance.
