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Thai spa services praised as world’s best
Thailand’s spa industry has been praised as the best in
the world, the Deputy Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul recently
announced. The country’s spa business generated 5.3 billion baht last
year, the minister said.
The government launched a 5-year development plan last
year to make Thailand a regional medical hub. The plan is expected to
generate more than 200 billion baht through the promotion of the country’s
medical and spa services, Thai traditional massage and herbal health
products as major tourist attractions, said Anutin.
‘’The plan has already been implemented in Bangkok,
Chiang Mai, Phuket and Surat Thani and the results so far have been very
good,’’ he said.
More than thirty private hospitals have joined the
program, he said. Revenue of more than 23 billion baht is expected to be
generated this year from foreign tourists. Some 600,000 foreign tourists
came to Thailand for medical treatment last year, generating 20 billion
baht.
Most foreigners came for medical check-ups, heart
operations, cosmetic surgery and sex change operations.
Meanwhile, the health ministry has standardized
Thailand’s spa services and issued certificates to qualified providers and
684 service providers across the country have already been certified.
‘’Thai spa has become particularly popular among
foreign tourists who have praised it as the world’s best,’’ said Mr.
Anutin. Three million tourists spent money on Thai spa services last year.
Thai spa and traditional massage should generate 6.7 billion baht this year
and another 2 billion baht from the sales of herbal products, he said.
Thailand will host the 8th World Spa Conference in
Bangkok this month during which nearly a thousand delegates from Asia and
Europe will exchange experiences.
This event will also help boost the Thai spa industry,
Mr. Anutin said. The conference will also help to demonstrate Thailand’s
potential to become the medical hub of Asia, he said.
Chinese and Indian medical care would also be on display at the
exhibition. (TNA)
Agricultural road map to be drawn up
The Thai government has begun drawing up an agricultural
road map to help strengthen sixteen key farm products, according to
government officials. Cooked chicken for export is at the top of the agenda.
The plan’s main purpose is to make sure that there is a
unified approach to the production and export production of each
agricultural product, the agricultural ministry spokesman, Pinij Kosriporn
explained.
The plans will provide a framework for government
programs over the next four years to strengthen the quality and the export
promotion of key commodities, including shrimps, chicken, processed seafood,
canned fruit and vegetables, rice, vegetable and animal fat, latex and
rubber furniture, organic farm products, soy and maize.
The immediate priority will be to finalize a plan within
a week to promote cooked chicken in Japan, Mr. Pinij said. This will focus
on how to assure Japanese consumers that there strict hygiene and quality
controls on Thai cooked chicken meat, he said. (TNA)
Mae Sai scrambles to recover border trade
Customs officers in Thailand’s border district of Mae
Sai in the northern province of Chiang Rai have expanded the number of trade
checkpoints in a bid to reverse a 40 percent decline in border trade with
Myanmar.
According to Mae Sai chief customs officer, Choochai
Udomphot, the first half of 2005 has seen the volume of border trade plummet
as a result of Myanmar officials placing stricter controls on the import and
export of nearly all commodities.
To help counter this, Thai customs officials have set up
five border checkpoints, and are rolling out legislation to stimulate
exports.
Choochai said that failure to use the legislation in
question would deal a blow to the tourism industry and the province’s
export target of 75 billion baht.
However, he pointed out that while Thai traders had borne
the brunt of the stricter Myanmar controls, Thailand retains its trade
surplus over Myanmar in the first half of 2005, recording a surplus of over
600 million baht. (TNA)
Academics called
in to help revive economy
The government initiated a rare bit of dialogue between
the state and academia when Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak called on
the deans of universities nationwide to act as a ‘brain bank’ to help
the government revive the nation’s economy and grassroots production.
Somkid, who made the plea to university deans during
their annual meeting, spoke of the government’s need to use the knowledge
base represented by academia to help develop the nation.
In particular, the government wants to see academics act
as advisors to the new breed of CEO-style provincial governors and district
officials, to help develop clusters of provinces which would work together
on tourism promotions. Academics are also being asked to develop
agricultural products to ensure that they meet the needs of the market, and
to determine which crops are not financially worthwhile to cultivate.
Likening farm subsidies to a chronic cancer faced by the
government, the finance minister stressed the need for academics to help
make agricultural production more efficient.
He also noted the need for supporting data from academic
institutions on research into the adjustment of production structures and
export marketing offensives, which would help boost Thailand’s competitive
edge.
Admitting that information from government departments
was often lacking in clarity, he said that assistance from academia would
help the government make clear and effective plans for the next five
years.(TNA)
Pork to be placed on list of controlled goods
Pork eaters across the nation will soon be able to
purchase their meat at lower prices, thanks to a decision by the government
to place pork on a list of commodities subject to price controls.
Siripol Yodmuangcharoen, director-general of the
Department of Internal Trade, told reporters that the department had
discussed the move with pig farmers and pig traders, and that the majority
did not oppose it.
It is expected that pork will be placed on the list of
goods subject to price controls at the beginning of next month, after which
the department will have to be informed of the quantity and location of all
pork sales.
“Over the past few weeks the price of pork, in part due
to seasonal factors, as the hot weather slows down the growth of pigs, while
consumer demand has risen. As a result, the average price of pork has gone
up”, Siripol said.
“But we are looking for ways to prevent domestic pigs
from leaving the country, as a reduction in domestic supply coupled with
rising demand would push up the price of pork still further”, he noted.
He, nonetheless, expressed confidence that the new price control
measures, along with campaigns to encourage supermarkets to retail cheap
pork for a promotional period, would serve to bring down the price of pork
to as little as 85-86 baht per kilogram in large stores, such as Makro,
compared to a normal price of 90-92 baht. (TNA)
Health Ministry pushes Thai herbs onto global market
They may look small and insignificant, but Thai herbs
could be the next big earner if plans unveiled recently by the Ministry of
Public Health bear fruit.
With a declared mission to jump on the global bandwagon
of alternative medical treatment, Deputy Public Health Minister Anutin
Charnvirakul told manufacturers of herbal medicine gathering in Bangkok for
a conference that Thailand ranked as one of the top sources of herbs in the
world.
Speaking of the urgent need for research and development
to take advantage of the global popularity of herbal medicine, he noted that
the export of herbal medicines, cosmetics and food supplements could help
provide financial compensation for imports of modern drugs.
The ministry has already placed some herbal medicines on
its national drugs list, including turmeric, cassia, Andrographis
paniculata, Clinacanthus nutans and others.
In 2002, Thai herbs earns the nation around 40 billion
baht in 2002, and this year the Ministry of Public Health plans to develop
the manufacturing and processing of Thai herbs for export, under wider plans
to transform the nation into a regional medical hub.
The 12 herbs which the ministry is focusing on have
stimulant, anti-ageing or slimming properties, and were named by the deputy
health minister as turmeric, Androgrphis paniculata, Pueraria Mirifica,
Morus alba, Kaempferia parviflora, Hibiscus sabdariffa, Cassia alata,
Zingiber purpureum, Centella asiatica, black pepper, Garcinia atroviridis
and Stevia.
The ministry hopes to earn annual sums of 11 billion baht
from the domestic sale of the herbs and Bt32 billion from exports.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently
encouraging the manufacturers of herbal medicines to comply with
internationally-recognized good manufacturing principles (TNA)
Low-interest loans to strengthen clean food campaign
The Ministry of Public Health is joining hands with the
Bank for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME Bank) to provide soft loans
enabling restaurateurs and market traders to improve hygiene standards,
Deputy Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced.
Hailing the progress made by the ministry in its ‘Clean
Food’ campaign since its inception in April 2003, Mr. Anutin said that the
campaign had successfully reduced levels of toxins such as bleaching agents
and pesticide residues found in foods, with the result that 98 percent of
food sold in Thailand was now free of these toxins.
At the same time, the ministry had worked with
restaurants and food stalls across the country to improve hygiene measures,
and 42 percent now passed the ministry’s inspection criteria.
The most indicative measure of the campaign’s success
comes in the form of figures showing a significant reduction in
gastrointestinal disease among the public over the past six years, with
incidents of acute diarrhea down 37 percent, food poisoning down 74 percent
and dysentery down 29 percent.
Anutin said that the ministry would continue to upgrade hygiene measures
by working with the SME Bank to provide soft loans for restaurateurs, food
stall owners and market traders to ensure their ability to comply with
hygiene standards. The 10-year loans will be offered from this month
onwards. (TNA)
Thai exporters urged to expand markets to Russia
Thai exporters have been urged to expand their markets to
Russia, where people have high purchasing power due to the country’s sound
economic prospect.
The Kasikorn Research Center (KRC) said in its recent
report that Russia could be a new and promising market for Thai exporters,
as Moscow’s increasing revenue from oil exports had resulted in stable
economic growth in the country with rising purchasing power of the Russian
people. This results in higher demand for various products, including
imported items, among the Russian consumers.
As Russia is now considered a ‘new star’ in the
international economic arena, and is eyed by world exporters, KRC suggested
that Thai exporters resort to aggressive marketing strategies and improve
the quality and packaging of their products to cope with greater business
competition and to meet the high-end demand of the Russian market.
The leading think tank also suggested that Thailand
expand investment projects with Russian business firms and attract more
Russian tourists into the Thai kingdom.
There are now about 30 million Russian middle-class
people with high purchasing power, the figure of which is anticipated to be
more than double over the next 10 years, according to the Bangkok-based
research house. (TNA)
Government in race to beat Isaan soil salinity
Nearly 20 million rai of land in the northeast has become
saline as a result of poor land use, according to the Department of Land
Development, which has warned of huge economic losses unless the march of
the salinity was halted in its tracks.
The statistics, which came coupled with a warning of the
dire situation in which the region could find itself in three decades time,
are frightening.
At Somrang, the department’s director-general, said
that one third of the region’s land area is now saline, and that it was
imperative to solve the problem as a matter of urgency.
The department has worked with both domestic and
international agencies, most recently from Australia, to study the problem,
and it would appear that inappropriate land use is the root cause.
According to Arunee Yuwaniyom, head of the department’s
soil salinity research and development program, if farmers continue to farm
in the way that they are doing now, in three decades time the situation will
have deteriorated to such an extent that income in the agricultural sector
will plummet.
To counter the problem, the department is encouraging
local farmers to plant trees such as eucalyptus and neem trees, while
reducing the amount of land given over to the cultivation of cassava. (TNA)
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