TRAVEL
HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Amari Watergate participates in fund raising effort to support slum communities

Central Hotels & Resorts appoint new GM at Central Samui Village

New mega rail-based transit system for Bangkok

Thailand’s places of worship get upgrades to honor HM Queen

THAI implements fuel surcharge

AirAsia announces Penang Bangkok flights

Airlines to phase out paper tickets by 2007

Amari Watergate participates in fund raising effort to support slum communities

Fr. Joseph H. Maier (2nd left) receives the donation at the foundation, as (from left) Nitaya Pakkeayaka, PR and fundraiser for the Human Development Foundation, Tongsak Sawatnatee, Pierre Andre Pelletier, and Nichaya Chaivisuth, director of public relations at Amari Watergate Hotel look on.

Fr. Joseph H. Maier, director of the Human Department Foundation recently received a donation from fund raising at an art exhibition titled "Fascinating England", organized by Pierre Andre Pelletier, general manager of Amari Watergate Hotel and Tongsak Sawatnatee, artist at the Amari Watergate Hotel, to support the children and the communities in the slums of Bangkok


Central Hotels & Resorts appoint new GM at Central Samui Village

Central Hotels & Resorts appointed Christoph Spiess as new general manager of Central Samui Village on Natien Beach in Koh Samui.

A native of Switzerland, and having worked in the hotel industry for 20 years, Spiess’ wealth of experience includes management positions in various countries like Switzerland, USA, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and of course Thailand, with leading hotels of the world as well as large international hotel chains.

Christoph Spiess

"I believe in exceeding guests’ expectations and to ‘wow’ them by doing things different." said Spiess.

His last position before joining the Central Hotels & Resort was as executive assistant manager of Siam City Hotel Bangkok.

Note: Central Samui Village has been selected as one of the two "Unseen Paradise" resorts on Koh Samui, organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, consisting of 100 individual exotic Thai-style villas on 575 hectares of land on Natien Beach in southern Samui.


New mega rail-based transit system for Bangkok

The government is preparing to find 500 billion baht to build a new rail-based mass transit system within the next six years, said Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit. He said the mega project could be financed either through a partial government support, or a loan scheme, where the money from the Finance Ministry-backed Vayupak Fund could be used.

The network, when completed, will be integrated into the existing underground train system, and the Tanayong system - where passengers travel on all three systems and interchange freely using one ticket. The three systems could save the country up to 30 billion baht in petrol costs, said the minister. (TNA)


Thailand’s places of worship get upgrades to honor HM Queen

Over 800 places of worship across the country are to get makeovers to honor the auspicious 72nd birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit on 12 August, a senior Interior Ministry official announced.

The Vice Minister for Interior Sermsak Karun said that the ministry has ordered provinces nationwide to make improvements to temples, mosques and churches to ensure that they provided peaceful and shady venues for community activities. The ministry hopes that the beautification program will not only instill a greater sense of community spirit, but will also foster greater ties between communities and places of worship.

The plans are part of a wider project to repair and rebuild 876 community venues in each district across the country over a 60-day period prior to12 August, when the country will celebrate the 72nd birthday of HM the Queen. (TNA)


THAI implements fuel surcharge

Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) is to increase its fuel surcharge by six percent to offset skyrocketing oil prices. Because of these rising costs, THAI will impose a 25 percent fuel surcharge on all international flights.

Thailand’s flagship carrier will levy a fuel surcharge of US$7.5 or about 300 baht per ticket on all Asian routes and Middle East routes. On the intercontinental flights the extra cost will be US$15 or about 600 baht per flight. The extra charges come into effect from June 15. (TNA)


AirAsia announces Penang Bangkok flights

AirAsia last week commenced services between Penang and Bangkok. The inaugural flight from Bangkok landed at 12.40 p.m. at the Penang International Airport. A welcome reception was organized by the Penang Tourism Action Council and AirAsia to greet the first load of visitors from Bangkok.

YB Teng Chang Yeow, state executive councilor (Tourism Development & Environment), and Tony Fernandes, AirAsia group chief executive office, were seen greeting some 131 guests on board the inaugural flight, including Tassapon Bijleveld, AirAsia chief executive officer from Thailand, and Arak Chonlatanon, chairman e-business - Shin Corporation.

The new Penang-Bangkok flight is Thai AirAsia’s first international route out of the island, and will be operated as a daily non stop flight to Bangkok from 900 baht one way (excluding airport taxes and fees).

The launch of the service follows the delivery of a fourth Boeing 737-300 for Thai AirAsia’s operations. With this new expansion, Thai AirAsia now flies to eight destinations within Thailand and to six international destinations from its hub at the Bangkok International Airport.

FD 720 will depart Bangkok daily at 10 a.m. and arrive in Penang at 12:40 (local time). Flight FD 721 departs Penang daily at 13:25 (local time) and arrives back in Bangkok at 14:05. It is a 1 hour 40 minute flight each way.

With 5 million guests carried during its 2 1/2 years of operations, AirAsia’s low fares have spurred many people to fly. Thai AirAsia commenced operations from its hub at Bangkok International Airport in February 2004. Penang will be the 6th international destination operated by the airline.

AirAsia’s network in Thailand presently includes point to point flights from its hub in Bangkok International Airport to Phuket, Hat Yai, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani (Vientiane, Laos), Chiang Rai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon Ratchathani, Singapore, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur (and Macau beginning July 5).


Airlines to phase out paper tickets by 2007

Paper tickets will be a thing of the past if a resolution passed at the 60th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM), taking place in Singapore from June 6-8, is successfully implemented.

The meeting agreed on the target date of December 31, 2007 to completely phase out paper tickets. IATA issues some 300 million such tickets yearly, each costing US$9. Board of governors chairman, Isao Kaneko, said IATA would help the industry reach the target date. The project is part of IATA’s strategy to achieve greater cost efficiency for the aviation industry.

Other priorities in the plan to simplify the business and reduce costs include encouraging higher usage of self-service kiosks, bar-codes that can be printed by the passenger thus replacing the magnetic strip currently found on paper tickets, implementing radio frequency identification baggage tags to replace bar-coded tags – an initiative that is estimated will save the industry US$350 million as a result of baggage mismanagement, and setting up an automated interline system.

IATA’s director general and CEO, Giovanni, Bisignani called for the industry to "shift our agendas from fire-fighting to building a new industry structure." Some 600 airline heads and senior executives attended the AGM. (TTG Asia)