Past, present and future members of Skål International Thailand met in Pattaya to take the first step toward reviving the famous club that hosted the Skål World Congress in 2006.
Skål Thailand President Dale Lawrence and Skål International Councilor for Thailand Brinley Waddell hosted the June 11 meeting at the Holiday Inn Pattaya for Skål, with Lawrence giving the opening speech.
Brinley Waddell, Skål International Councillior-Thailand says that Skål is actually more than you think.
“The growth of tourism in Pattaya, reflected by the numbers of new hotels now being constructed, gives me every confidence that Skål Pattaya may attract many new members from the travel and tourism community,” he said.
Lawrence added that Skål International Thailand is looking forward to being the potential host of the upcoming Skål World Congress, which is to be held in 2017.
The speech was followed by a video presentation directed by Waddell, showing what Skål is, what it’s all about and what “Skålleagues” do for their countries.
Alan Lammin, Director of See-Muaang Solutions gave a presentation about See-Muaang Solutions’ Services.
After dinner, another presentation followed from Alan Lammin, director of See-Muaang Solutions, a sponsor of the evening. Lammin explained the background of their company before introducing the company’s “Purple Wi-Fi”.
Purple products
“Purple Wi-Fi is a public-hotspot system that allows you to build your business through social marketing without the need of big marketing budgets. Every user of your Wi-Fi network is required to either ‘like’ your Facebook page, tweet about you or give your company a plus-one on Google+,” he explained. “What does this mean for you? It means your business is getting constant promotional access to all their friends, followers and circles.”
Skål Thailand President Dale Lawrence gave an opening speech on the Skål re-launch networking evening.
Other products include the “Purple HotelPress”, which is a customized newspaper for resort guests. It can be enriched with the hotel’s own advertising and promotions, or with other brand advertising. The hotel guest is provided with not only daily news from all over the world via Agence France Presse (AFP), but offers an overview of the hotel’s services and daily activities.
So the hotel can provide guests with better service and generate more revenue. The Purple “MyPress” was also mentioned, which is virtually the same as HotelPress, but can be customized for exhibitions and conference venues, leisure and entertainment outlets, and large locations such as shopping malls, stores, airports, stations, stadia, and hospitals.
Rebuilding Skål
The evening turned out to be a big success and Skål, the global travel and tourism networking organization, is looking to rebuild its membership base in Pattaya and along the Eastern Seaboard.
(L to R) Carl Duggan, Area General Manager of Centara Grand Pratamnak Pattaya chats with Kate Gerits, General Manager of Holiday Inn Pattaya.
For those who are not familiar with Skål, it is a professional organization of tourism leaders around the world, promoting global tourism and friendship. It is the only international group uniting all branches of the travel and tourism industry.
Its members – the industry’s managers and executives – meet at local, national, regional and international levels to discuss and pursue topics of common interest.
(L to R) Pasit Foobunma, Board Member/Web Master of the SATCC, Allan Riddell, Advisor to the Board (SATCC), Carl Duggan, Area General Manager of Centara Grand Pratamnak Pattaya, Brian Songhurst, Alan Lammin, Director of See-Muaang Solutions and Tom Bishop, Managing Director of DTC Travel.
The first club was founded in 1932 in Paris by travel managers following an educational tour of Scandinavia. The idea of international goodwill and friendship grew and, in 1934, the Association Internationale des Skål Clubs was formed with Florimond Volckaert, the “Father of Skål”, as its first president.
Skål International today has approximately 17,000 members in 400 clubs throughout 80 nations. Most activities occur at local level, moving up through national committees, under the umbrella of Skål International, headquartered at the general secretariat in Torremolinos, Spain.
Group Photo of Skålleugues who attended the Skål re-launch networking.
Skål International is governed by an executive committee of six members, elected by delegates to an annual general assembly, held during the World Congress, hosted by a different country each year. This allows members first-hand observation of the travel and tourism potential around the world.
A membership-recruitment cocktail party will be held at a hotel in central Pattaya in July, date and venue to be confirmed.
(L to R) Patrick A. Menhorn, Managing Owner of Newspaper Direct International, Wallapha Sawasdikool, International marketing Executive of BHP, Stewart Gilson, International marketing Executive of BHP, Lucas Forges Davanzati, General Manager of the Courtyard by Marriott South Pattaya, Ben Redmond, Director of Newspaper Direct Eastern Seaboard and Neil Maniquiz, Manager of the International Marketing Division BHP.
(L to R) Neville J. Nicholson, Director of See-Muaang Solutions, Brinley Waddell, Skål International Councillior-Thailand, Dale Lawrence, President of Skål International Thailand, Carl Duggan, Area General Manager of Centara Grand Pratamnak Pattaya, Jonas Sjostedt, General Manager of Nova Hotel & Spa Pattaya, and Joakim Persson, Content Editor & Sales Executive of Scan Media.
