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Tsunami fails to deter US tourists
US tourists are continuing to come to Thailand as normal
despite last month’s tsunamis, according to the Tourism Authority of
Thailand (TAT), which this year will launch a marketing offensive to attract
more American visitors.
Santi Chudinthara, director of the TAT’s Los Angeles
office, said that the US market had been largely unaffected by the tsunamis,
with no visitors canceling their holiday bookings.
Anxious to keep up visitor numbers at a time when the
tourism industry is desperate for income to help it get back on its feet,
the TAT has been liaising with the US government to ensure that the news it
presents on the situation in Thailand accurately reflects the post-tsunami
situation.
The TAT’s US marketing offensive this year will focus
on middle to high income tourists. A publicity campaign will concentrate on
disseminating news and information about Thailand via electronic
newsletters.
Television viewers across the US will also have the
chance to learn about Thailand through the Travel Cafe program, which
attracts 150 million viewers throughout the world via NBC and the Discovery
Channel. Documentary journalists from the US will also be invited to
undertake study tours to Thai tourism destinations. (TNA)
Spain promotes Thailand as host of international tourism meeting
Spain’s foreign minister has thanked Thailand for
helping his country’s citizens caught up in last month’s tsunami
catastrophe. Miguel Angel Moratinos Cuyaube also expressed condolences on
behalf of the Spanish government and royal family on the losses suffered by
Thailand in the disaster.
He was speaking to journalists in the Thai capital after
a meeting with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The Spanish foreign
minister said both countries would be seeking international cooperation to
help rebuild Thailand’s tourism and fisheries industries.
‘’Spain will propose that the World Tourism
Organization hold an international meeting in Thailand to help promote and
restore the region’s industry,” the Spanish foreign minister said.
Spain will also send a team of fishery experts to meet
with their Thai counterparts in government and industry to help build
cooperation. In addition, the foreign minister invited PM Thaksin to visit
his country during the Asia-Europe Summit, which is to be held in Spain this
year. (TNA)
Thailand ready to host international tourism meeting
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has responded
enthusiastically to a Spanish proposal for the Kingdom to host an
international tourism meeting, saying that the nation was ready and willing
to do so.
Speaking after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel
Angel Moratinos Cuyaube, Thaksin said, “I told him that Thailand was ready
to host this meeting in Phuket”.
The next step will be for the foreign ministers of the
two countries to discuss the Spanish proposal, which would see international
delegates descend on Phuket, the southern resort island which received
extensive damage in last month’s tsunami.
The prime minister, who noted the importance of the
tourism industry to the Thai economy, also confirmed that Spain would help
encourage delegates from abroad to attend the Thai meeting.
Referring to the thousands of foreign tourists who lost
their lives during the tsunami and the outpouring of international concern
which has followed in its wake, Thaksin said, “Thailand is an important
tourist destination, and a huge number of foreign tourists died…I want
(these countries) to participate, to show their sorrow and to search for
means of repair and restoration.”
This month, the prime ministers of three Scandinavian
countries are scheduled to arrive in Thailand to hold talks with Thaksin and
witness for themselves the locations where thousands of Scandinavian
holidaymakers died. (TNA)
Cambodia achieves
the one million target at last
Tourism to the Kingdom of Cambodia has been increasing by
leaps and bounds and, for the first time, Phnom Penh International Airport
(PPIA) has topped the one-million passenger mark, a goal previous minister
for tourism, Veng Sereyvuth, had set more than five years ago.
In a context of strong growth of more than 19 percent in
passenger traffic volume for the country last year, the airport welcomed its
millionth passenger on December 27, 2004. The figure includes both
international and domestic traffic.
Total international arrivals to PPIA grew by 24 percent
in the first eleven months of last year to more than 298,000. Total
international arrivals to Cambodia for the same period came to 867,225. The
airport concessionaire, Societe Concessionaire de l’Aeroport, has set a
goal of 1.5million passengers for 2005. (TTG Asia)
Tourism starts to pick up after tsunamis
Less than three weeks after massive tsunamis slammed into
Thailand’s southern Andaman coastline, the number of foreign tourists
arriving in the kingdom is beginning to return to normal, Tourism and Sports
Minister Sontaya Khunplome confirmed on January 13.
Sontaya acknowledged that visitor numbers during the
first week of the new year had fallen by 27 percent as a result of the
tsunamis, but said that visitor arrivals were now up to 90 percent of their
original levels.
Nonetheless, he conceded that few tourists were traveling
to the six Andaman provinces affected by the tsunamis, including Phuket,
Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun, despite the fact that the region
still had over 30,000 hotel rooms to accommodate visitors.
With the Andaman region heavily reliant on the tourism
industry, the government is rushing through with projects aimed at restoring
the area to normality as soon as possible, and many beaches have already
been reopened for tourists. (TNA)
Thailand plans war-cabinet style committee for tourism
A new body to supervise the revival of tourism to
Thailand, and particularly to its six tsunami-stricken provinces, will be
formed on the instructions of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Called the Andaman Rehabilitation Committee (ARC) it will
be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, and will have overall
responsibility for allocating funds for the recovery, including a special
allocation to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Leading members of the private sector, including
hoteliers, tour operators and airline representatives, are expected to be
asked to sit on the committee which will have a full-time administrative
staff. A spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism & Sports told reporters
the committee will be the first of its kind ever formed in Thailand during
peace-time.
“The ARC will be like a war-cabinet, it will have the
power to bypass individual ministries. It looks as though it will have total
control to fast-track any project that it deems necessary,” the spokesman
said.
One of its first tasks will be to examine the
ministry’s request for 1.76 billion baht (US$44 million) to revive inbound
tourism. The request has been accompanied by a detailed report compiled with
the co-operation of TAT. “If we get the necessary funds we will be able to
get tourism moving again. We believe we can save the year by considerably
boosting tourism to the stricken area during the green season (rainy months
in Thailand),” the spokesman said.
Of the proposed 1.76 billion-baht budget, 500 million
will be allocated to promoting Thailand overseas through special road shows
and familiarization trips. About 100 million baht will be spent on promoting
domestic tourism. Another 380 million baht will go to funding special
international standard events in Thailand but the biggest single category of
expenditure will be 780 million baht on advertising in overseas markets.
(TTG Asia)
Qantas/BA rolls out best of Australia again
The second round of a ‘Best of Australia’ promotion
by Qantas/British Airways has been launched, offering packages until the end
of August starting at S$408.
To be sold through a consortium of travel agents, these
packages include three nights accommodation, daily breakfast and a choice of
one tour option. The first 500 bookings made via VISA will see a S$300 hotel
voucher thrown in for future use.
In conjunction with the promotion, VISA cardholders can
purchase return economy class tickets with the airlines to Australia from
S$398 to Perth and S$618 to Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne or
Sydney. (TTG Asia)
Move to speed up post-tsunami insurance payouts
The Thai government is working closely with insurance
firms to speed up the settlement of claims from the devastating tsunami that
hit the country’s six Andaman coast provinces on December 26.
Pojanee Tanawaranij, director-general of the Insurance
Department, said the total sum insured was 70.6 billion baht. Of this, 1.7
billion baht was for life and travel insurance, while assets such as
buildings and cars had been insured for nearly 69 billion baht.
Pojanee said while car and house claims had been dealt
with, damage to hotels and resorts was still being calculated. However, she
said surveys conducted by the various insurance bodies involved indicated
that the final compensation payout for asset damage would be around three
billion baht. “The Department of Insurance is in touch with all the
insurance associations to ensure immediate settlement of claims, provided
that all papers are in order,” she said. (TNA)
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