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Dusit Resort hosts 2007 Green Leaf initiatives meeting
In the photo, from left to right: Ploenpis Meunpol, Tourism Authority
of Thailand (TAT) Representative; Ratchaneewan Rattanawirakul, committee
member; Pongsathon Katesumlee, TAT Representative; Yaowalak Hotarapawanont,
committee member; Dr. Chirapol Sintunawa, Vice-President of Green Leaf
Foundation; Dr. Suvit Yodmanee, President of Green Leaf Foundation;
Chatchawal Supachayanont, Vice-President of Green Leaf Foundation; Wiwat
Pongbooranakitt, Vice-President of Green Leaf Foundation; Chatra Chaiyanam,
committee member; and Wantanee Katephasuk, committee member
The Green Leaf Foundation, led by Dr. Suvit Yodmani, Minister of Tourism and
Sports recently held its annual committee meeting at the Dusit Resort,
Pattaya. Dr. Suvit and the committee were welcomed by the hotel’s general
manager Chatchawal Supachayanont, also vice-president of the Green Leaf
Foundation.
The meeting was organized to create a roadmap for the organization’s
environmental initiatives and direction in 2007. The meeting also outlined
the cooperation from government agencies and private institutions to achieve
the foundation’s goals next year. Green Leaf Foundation’s smoke-free program
for hotels was also in the agenda as it is gaining support from the
hospitality industry with more than 60 smoke-free hotels now in Thailand.
The meeting was attended by Tourism Authority of Thailand representatives,
and the vice-presidents and committee members of the foundation.
Green Leaf Foundation is a non-profit organization that promotes the
development of environmental excellence in the tourism industry. Green Leaf
has 200 member hotels and is supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand,
Thai Hotels Association, United Nations Environment Program, Demand Side
Management Office of Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand,
Association for the Development of Environmental Quality, and the
Metropolitan Waterworks Authority.
New year gift in the form
of Friendship Bridge for Mekong tourism
By Satish Gupta (eTN Asia)
The recent introduction of the second Friendship Bridge between Thailand and
Lao PDR is expected to provide a major fillip to tourism ties to and within
the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS).
According to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), linking the Lao province
of Savannakhet with northeastern Thailand’s Mukdahan province, the second
Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge is a key component of a major economic and
infrastructure development plan to facilitate transportation, trade,
investment, and tourism in the Mekong area.
The second 1.6-kilometer, two-lane bridge was funded via loans from the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to the tune of 4,011 million
yen (US$33.7 million) to the Lao PDR and 4,079 million yen (US$34.3 million)
to Thailand. It was JBIC’s first Overseas Development Assistance loan for a
cross-border infrastructure development embracing two countries.
The first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong linking the Thai
province of Nong Khai and the Lao PDR capital of Vientiane was opened in
1994 with Australian funding.
Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said the bridge would foster
intra-regional trade and investment, facilitate travel to Myanmar and
Vietnam and “in the future help to extend the corridor to China, Korea,
India and Bangladesh.”
Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh said the bridge was important to a
landlocked country such as Lao PDR, and would enable it to boost the
potentiality for transport services and expand trade and tourism with its
neighbors.
According to TAT, the route connecting Vietnam and Savannakhet has been
improved in the past through assistance from multilateral agencies and
Japan. In Thailand, JBIC has financed improvement work on existing national
highways that are part of the East-West Corridor. The new bridge will
connect all these routes.
Although the bridge has international border control checkpoints, visitor
flows will only begin after the relevant agreements are finalized between
Thailand and Lao PDR. Cars traveling across the bridge will be charged 50
baht each and larger trucks, 350 baht. The two provinces that will certainly
benefit on both sides of the river are Savannakhet and Mukdahan, where the
people share a lot of cultural, historical and ethnic heritage.
In January-March 2006, overland Lao PDR arrivals to Thailand totaled 38,269,
up 45.27 percent over the same period of 2005.
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