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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

No surprises as airport opening is delayed

Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa appoints new director of event management

Cabinet nods for Thailand to host next year’s Miss Universe contest

Bangkok City Night Tour 2004

All quiet underground as subway prices go up

Chiang Mai airport to study noise pollution

Oil crisis could hit tourism, warns TAT

Air India and Lufthansa in major tie-up

No surprises as airport opening is delayed

The Thai government is finally coming to terms with the fact that Bangkok’s new international airport, which was supposed to open September 29 next year, will not be fully operational until mid 2006 at the earliest.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is also chairman of the construction committee, admitted to reporters earlier this week that Suvarnabhumi is way behind schedule for a September 2005 opening.

But instead of acknowledging that the opening date had always been unrealistic, the PM blamed the contractors and threatened they will be barred from bidding for future projects. “If the contractors don’t catch up they must be banned from bidding for any new state projects,” he said.

Meanwhile, the director of Don Muang airport said that it doesn’t matter if Suvarnabhumi does open six months late or more. “We can cope with the projected numbers without any major problems, we are happy to carry on until Suvarnabhumi opens,” said Yom Ngornrath. (TTG Asia)


Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa appoints new director of event management

Jonathan Wigley, general manager of Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa has promoted Ms. Pawanna Klindej to director of event management. Ms. Pawanna will be responsible for overseeing the event management activities.

Pawanna Klindej

Ms. Pawanna graduated from Rajabhat Institute, Chandrakasem in Mass Communications and completed an advanced certificate in Hospitality & Catering from TAFE College in NSW, Australia. She has extensive experience, having worked in the hospitality field for 13 years. Prior to this position, Ms. Pawanna was a senior event management at Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa.


Cabinet nods for Thailand to host next year’s Miss Universe contest

The cabinet has approved in principle a proposed plan that Thailand hosts the Miss Universe pageant contest 2005. Government spokesman, Jakrapob Penkair said the decision was made at the cabinet’s latest weekly meeting. The plan that Thailand hosts the Miss Universe contest 2005 was proposed by the Office of the Secretariat of the Prime Minister.

The cabinet also approved a budget of US$6.5 million for the entitled right to host the Miss Universe contest, as demanded by the Miss Universe Organization (MUO).

Earlier, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told the MUO’s organizing committee in Thailand and executives who paid a visit to Thailand that the Thai government would be pleased to support the Miss Universe contest in the kingdom next year and that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, in conjunction with the private sector, was prepared to host the contest.

China and Chile have also proposed to host next year’s Miss Universe pageant contest, and have offered to pay their entitled right of US$7 million and US$6 million respectively. (TNA)


Bangkok City Night Tour 2004

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has launched a city night tour scheme, called the ‘Bangkok City Night Tour 2004’ program, aimed at promoting the ‘Unseen Bangkok’ tourism project.

The Permanent Secretary for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), Khunying Nathanon Thavisin, presided over the opening ceremony of the program at the Chai Prakarn Public Park on August 13. The program is being held on Fridays- Sundays for four consecutive weeks, from 6.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m.

“The program is organized with an objective to promote the ‘Unseen Bangkok’ project, and to promote historic and tourist attractions within the Ratanakosin Island among both Thai and foreign visitors so that they will become acquainted with Bangkok, the first gateway to Thailand, before traveling to other provinces of the country”, she said. “Visitors can see these landmark places by boat and by land free of charge”, she added.

Khun Ying Nathanon revealed that there would also be other activities, including the display of locally-made products under the government’s One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) scheme, during the four-week ‘Bangkok City Night Tour 2004’ Program. She forecast that the program would attract over 20,000 local and foreign visitors. (TNA)


All quiet underground as subway prices go up

Fears that the end of promotional pricing on Bangkok’s new underground train line would see a sudden drop in passenger numbers were confirmed on August 13, as passengers spurned the subway on the first day of the new pricing regime.

The message from the public could not have been clearer: flat fares of 10 baht were acceptable, while the new fare structure with an initial price of 12 baht plus 2 baht for each additional station were not. The sudden drop in passenger numbers was particularly noticeable in business districts such as Silom, which had been packed with passengers prior to the fare hike. Before the fare hike, the new subway saw an average of 250,000 passengers a day.

While stressing that many people were taking extended leave from work following the national holiday, Prapat Chongsa-nguan, the governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), warned that passenger numbers were likely to plummet by as much as 20 percent as a result of the new pricing regime. He urged the public to put pressure on the government to purchase back the concessions for Bangkok’s elevated skytrain project and the subway line, saying that the government would be able to maintain ticket prices at a flat 20 baht, while also introducing capital-wide tickets which could be used on a variety of forms of public transport. (TNA)


Chiang Mai airport to study noise pollution

The government, through the National Environment Committee (NEC), has ordered the Chiang Mai Airport authority to study noise pollution levels before expanding its runways. The airport at Thailand’s second largest city, Chiang Mai, is currently being renovated and extended as part of the government’s plan to make it a regional aviation hub.

The plan is to expand the runway by another 300 meters on the northern side, making the total runway 3,100 meters. The runway will be extended onto unoccupied land controlled by the Royal Thai Air Force. This means Chiang Mai residents will not be affected by the extension plan.

However, the NEC has ordered the airport to conduct extensive studies on the effect of noise on local residents when the planes land and take off. It is to be completed within the next month, and to be submitted to the committee for consideration.

The frequency of flights will increase when it becomes a major regional airport, and there are fears that this might affect residents living nearby. The Chiang Mai Airport is located in one of the city’s most crowded areas. (TNA)


Oil crisis could hit tourism, warns TAT

Skyrocketing global oil prices could have an impact on Thailand’s tourism situation by the end of the year, the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) warned. Juthamas Siriwan said that although the oil crisis had yet to make a dent in Thailand’s tourism industry, an impact was likely if prices continued to rise to hit US$60 per barrel.

This would particularly affect the European, US and Japanese markets, she said, warning that the number of tourist arrivals in the country could drop by 350,000-400,000, causing a 1.4 billion baht loss in tourism revenue. However, she stressed that the TAT would compensate for the loss by encouraging more tourists from short-haul destinations. (TNA)


Air India and Lufthansa in major tie-up

Air India and Lufthansa have signed a code share pact paving the way for flight expansion between India and Germany and for joint development of India-Europe-US air services. The partnership comes into effect in October.

Under the agreement, there will be a further six weekly flights between Frankfurt and Mumbai and three weekly flights between Frankfurt and Delhi which are operated by Air India and can be booked with a Lufthansa code. Customers of both airlines can in future collect and redeem miles for the respective loyalty programs – Miles & More and Flying Returns.

Mayrhuber said, “India is an important market with great growth potential. Lufthansa is today already the European airline with the largest offer of services to India for its customers. We are banking on the dynamism of this market and can see considerable potential through the co-operation.”

Thulasidas added the India-Germany/Europe and India-US are very important markets for Air India, which it plans to serve over Frankfurt in alliance with Lufthansa. Air India will soon link Bangalore and Hyderabad directly to Frankfurt and enhance Delhi-Frankfurt operations to daily going beyond to the US West Coast.

Lufthansa now flies from Frankfurt to Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai daily, and Bangalore five times a week; and from Munich to Delhi thrice weekly. (TTG Asia)