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UNCHS (Habitat) executive director stays at Amari Watergate Hotel
Pierre
Andre Pelletier, general manager of Amari Watergate Hotel recently welcomed
Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of the United Nations Center for
Human Settlements (Habitat) on her arrival for her stay at the hotel. She
was visiting Thailand to receive an audience with His Majesty the King and
call on H.E. Pol. Lt. Col. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand.
Mr. Pelletier is pictured presenting a garland to Mrs. Tibaijuka.
THAI offers free massages to premium travelers
Thai Airways International (THAI) is about to add free
massages to the growing list of services it provides free to its business
and first-class passengers.
Starting on April 12, traditional foot, hand and shoulder
massages will be given free in THAI’s business and first-class lounges in
the international and domestic terminals at Bangkok’s Don Muang airport.
THAI’s executive vice president for customer services,
Vasing Kittikul, said some 15 massage therapists would be providing the 20
to 30-minute service from early morning through to midnight, seven days a
week. “The service will run for three months, though we might extend it,
depending on the response,” Vasing said, adding that this was just one of
the services being offered to front-end passengers. Others include a la
carte menus, Chinese cuisine specialties and, perhaps most novel of all,
free in-flight portraits by well-known Thai artists until April 9. (TTG
Asia)
Finnair Miami flights continue in winter 2004-2005
Finnair will once again provide services to Miami during
the winter of 2004-2005. The service that began for the 2003-2004 winter
season in October 2003 has proved so popular that a decision has been made
to continue the route next winter. Finnair will operate the route from
Helsinki using MD-11 aircraft from December 12, 2004 until March 31, 2005.
The Florida region has many interesting attractions for visitors, and the
exchange rate for the euro is very favorable against the US dollar. Flights
continue through the current winter season until March 28
Italian boost for Thailand
Italian airline Blue Panorama started twice-weekly scheduled
services between Milan (Malpensa) and Bangkok on March 1, following a two-month
trial for charters between the Italian fashion centre and the Thai capital.
The Bangkok-Milan flight on Fridays is believed to be the
only non-stop flight between the two cities. The Monday flights stop at Phuket.
The fledgling carrier, which started business in 1998, will
use a Boeing 767-300ER configured with 264 economy and 12 business-class seats.
The fleet comprises a total of two B767-300ERs and five B737-400s. All of the
aircraft are fitted with leather seats and modern in-flight entertainment
equipment.
Bangkok GSA, Federal Co, is asking 31,300 baht for the
T-class roundtrip fare which requires minimum six/maximum 45-day stay in Italy,
subject to strict alteration conditions.
Visitor arrivals from Italy have been static for the last six
years, primarily due to a shortage of airline seats following the pullout of
Italian flag carrier, Alitalia, in 1999. (TTG Asia)
Thailand voted best incentive
tourism destination
Thailand has been voted the world’s best incentive tourism
destination by meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition (MICE) organizers
from across the globe, according a senior Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)
official revealed.
Pornsiri Manohan, Deputy TAT Governor for International
Marketing, said that the award was announced during Australia’s International
Business, Meeting and Events conference (AIME 2004), held in Melbourne last
month.
This year’s AIME conference, the largest ever, brought
together 750 MICE organizers from across the world, with a Thai delegation of
representatives from Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI),
the Office of Meeting and Exhibition Promotion, the International Association of
Meeting Promoters (Thailand), and advertising companies receiving a huge level
of interest from other delegates.
This was reflected in Thailand receiving the award for best
incentive destination from Quorum magazine - a widely circulated journal for
MICE organizers - for the second year running. (TNA)
Hat Yai Airport re-opened for all passengers
Airlines have resumed their flights to serve all in-bound and
out-bound passengers through the Hat Yai International Airport in this southern
province of Songkhla since early Saturday March 6, after rescue teams
successfully cleared a C-130 aircraft of the Royal Thai Air Force which made an
emergency landing and blocked the runway. (TNA
Amari Samui expands
Eighty-six new deluxe rooms have opened at Amari Palm Reef
Resort, bringing the total room count to 187. An Italian restaurant and a new
spa facility, Sivara Spa, have also been added. All the new facilities have a
clean modern design, in keeping with the new-look Amari Hotels & Resorts.
(TTG Asia)
Pandas boost zoo attendance
by over 100 percent
The director of the Zoological Park Organization has pledged
he will search for new animals to attract more visitors to Thailand’s zoos,
following a twofold increase in visitor numbers to the Chiang Mai Zoo as a
result of the acquisition of two giant pandas from China.
Citing figures showing that the panda couple, ‘Xuang
Xuang’ and ‘Lin Huay’ had led to a huge influx of visitors from Thailand
and abroad, Sophon Dumnui said that the Zoological Park Organization was now
looking for other ‘unusual’ animals for its other four zoos to display.
Before the acquisition of the two pandas, who have been
described as “animal friendship ambassadors” from the Chinese government,
the Chiang Mai Zoo generally received around 600,000 visitors each year,
however, in the three months since the arrival of the pandas, over 400,000
people have already visited the zoo, with visitor numbers for 2004 as a whole
projected at over 1.2 million.
Sophon suggested that new animals could include giant
anteaters from South America, Komodo dragons from Indonesia, or gorillas from
Africa. “There has to be selling point, a star of the show,” Sophon said.
“In the past it was difficult for these animals to come. The requests didn’t
pass,” he noted.
While conceding that the acquisition of animals such as giant
pandas involved a huge amount of preparation and a large financial commitment,
he said that such animals won over visitors.
The Zoological Park Organization, under the Royal Patronage
of His Majesty the King, is now contacting various countries to see if unusual
animals could be shown in Thailand. (TNA)
Global delegates praise Thailand’s tourism model
Members of the World Tourism Organization’s (WTO)
Sustainable Development of Tourism Committee have pledged their faith in
Thailand as a role model for sustainable tourism by electing Thailand as the
committee chair.
Announcing the move, Dr. Sasithara Phichaichannarong,
director of the Office for Tourism Development, said that Thailand would act as
committee chair for three years after being handed the baton from Costa Rica.
The election was made during the fourth meeting of the committee which was held
in Chiang Mai.
Dr. Sasithara said, “The global delegates gathered at the
meeting praised Thailand for its approach to sustainable tourism development,
singling out community participation through the One Tambon One Product (OTOP)
scheme for particular mention.”
The meeting also felt that Thailand would be capable of
creating sustainable tourism standards and indices, as it had already proposed
tourism and hotel standards for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) region. At the same time, the meeting noted that Thailand was expanding
its framework of tourism cooperation to include neighboring countries, in
particular by helping to train tourism personnel and creating an information
center for Laos. (TNA)
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