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Passion Pattaya launched in ITB
In the photo are the coordinators of the Passion
Pattaya campaign: City Hotel Sriracha’s Bundarik Kusolvitya (third from
left), Dusit Resort, Pattaya’s Chatchawal Supachayanont (fourth from
left), Tiffany Show Pattaya’s Alisa Phantusak (fifth from left) together
with other Pattaya hotel managers. (Photo from TTG Asia)
The Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter recently
organized a campaign launched at the ITB (Internationale
Tourismus-B๖rse) Berlin to promote Pattaya as a prime destination.
In a campaign called Passion Pattaya, the hotel executives of the
Eastern Seaboard joined together to participate in the world’s leading
trade show for the tourist industry to promote Pattaya. The Passion
Pattaya booth highlighted the festivities, water sport adventures,
sightseeing, shopping, dining and other recreations that can be enjoyed
in the city resort.
A number of Pattaya and Chonburi hotel managers joined the campaign
spearheaded by THA Eastern Chapter president Chatchawal Supachayanont
and vice-presidents Bundarik Kusolvitya and Alisa Phantusak.
“This is the first time for the THA Eastern Chapter to have its own
exhibition stand in ITB and we believe this will further raise the image
of Pattaya on the global stage of traveling,” said Chatchawal
Supachayanont.
He added that the campaign was also a good initiative for small hotels
to create a network and establish new customer contacts. “More important
than the opportunity of increased volume of business through this
campaign are the new insights gained on the market trends and
innovations in the global travel industry,” Chatchawal noted.
ITB Berlin set new records this year with a 15 percent increase in trade
visitors and a total attendance of 177,154. A total of 10,923 companies
from 184 countries and territories presented their tourism attractions
on a display area measuring some 160,000 square metres, ranging from
service providers such as hotels and airlines to tour operators, and
individual countries and regions.
BCCT Tourism Committee
holds first meeting
The inaugural meeting of the British Chamber of
Commerce of Thailand’s Travel and Tourism committee recently took place at the
Pacific City Club to outline the group’s objectives. Pictured at the meeting are
Mr. Trevor Allen, Committee Chairman (3rd from right) with Committee members
(L-R): Andrew Wood, Tom Bishop, Marc Hagelauer, Julianne Rogers, Florian Preuss
and John Watson.
Macau Government Tourist Office signs MOU with Thailand’s Convention and Exhibition Bureau
Director of MGTO Joäo Manuel Costa
Antunes and Director General of TCEB Kajit Habanananda sign the MOU at the
Thai-Macau Business Relations Seminar, held April 9 at the Shangri-la hotel in
Bangkok.
Bangkok, April 13 - Under the witness of H.E. the Chief
Executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region, the Macau Government
Tourist Office (MGTO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Thailand
Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) to develop and strengthen mutual
cooperation in business tourism.
Director of MGTO Joäo Manuel Costa Antunes and Director General of TCEB Kajit
Habanananda signed the MOU at the opening ceremony of the Thai-Macau Business
Relations Seminar, held April 9 at the Shangri-la in Bangkok.
The MOU states that the two parties will exchange delegations to share
information and experience in the fields of business tourism development and
management, business tourism promotion and human resources development in
business tourism.
“Signing this MOU with our partner, the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO)
is a most positive development,” said Mr. Habanananda. “The role of TCEB is to
help Thailand’s business tourism sector grow and we strongly believe that the
best way to achieve our goals is to have good partners in strategic locations
around the world, and to help each other in our respective efforts to attract
more meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions business. We are
particularly excited for this newly forged alliance with Macau and eager to
learn from their experts and to share our experiences and knowledge with them.
This is a clear example of a win-win situation.”
Thailand became the 10th largest source market for Macau in 2006. Macau welcomed
almost 90,000 Thai visitors in 2006, a growth of 54.5 per cent over the previous
year. The first two months of 2007 saw a remarkable growth of 64.9%, with 14,839
arrivals from Thailand.
Cambodia OKs
integrated resort project
A Malaysian company has been given the go ahead from
Cambodian authorities to develop an integrated resort similar to Singapore’s
Sentosa Island.
Ang Tom Nam Company is to develop an almost carbon copy of Singapore’s
development plans in Cambodia’s Koh Ta Kiev Island, which has long been famous
as a destination for snorkeling and scuba diving.
“The island offers a huge potential for development,” said a spokesman for the
Malaysian developers, who are looking at the region’s rapid development of no
frills carriers as an impetus to turn the island into a resort destination in
the Southeast Asian region.
Cambodian authorities granted the Malaysian company a 99-year lease on 1,000
hectares of land for the integrated resort, which would include a golf course,
hotel accommodation and casino.
The company was favored to develop the resort situated just off Sihanoukville,
Cambodia’s largest port, due to their presence in Cambodian for the last five
years. “They have been doing business in Cambodia for some time,” an official
said. \
Currently, the island is “so underdeveloped there are even no jetty services.”
To get there entails hiring a fishing boat. (eTN)
Thai Airasia to fly to Nakhon Si Thammarat, acquires aircraft, adds flights
Thai AirAsia will start daily flights between Bangkok and
Nakhon Si Thammarat from May 15, making the Southern city the airline’s 10th
domestic destination.
The opening of the new route comes as Thai AirAsia welcomes its 12th aircraft.
Tickets for flights on the new route are now available on all of the airline’s
sales channels.
With the new addition to its fleet, the airline is also increasing its flight
frequencies to Phuket, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Flights between Bangkok and
Phuket will increase to six times daily, flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai
to five times daily, and flights between Bangkok and Chiang Rai to four times
daily.
Thai AirAsia’s 10 domestic destinations now include Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat
Yai, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Phuket, Surat Thani, Ubon
Ratchathani and Udon Thani. Its international destinations are Xiamen, Macau,
Phnom Penh, Yangon, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang and Singapore.
Thai AirAsia is acquiring 40 brand new Airbus A320 aircraft, the first of which
will be received in October 2007.
MICE ready to roar in Pattaya
From left: Kajit Habanananda, TCEB
director-general, Mom Rajawongse Disnadda Diskul, chairman of the Thailand
Convention and Exhibition Bureau, and Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn at the
TCEB committee members’ lunch with government and private organization
representatives of Pattaya City.
From left: Pratheep Malhotra, managing director
of Pattaya Mail Publishing Co., Ltd; Ingo Rauber, general manager and
director of operations for Pinnacle Jomtien Resort & Spa; and Panga
Vathanakul, managing director of Royal Cliff Beach Resort Pattaya; with (in
foreground) Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay.
Narisa Nitikarn
Mom Rajawongse Disnadda Diskul, chairman of the Thailand Convention and
Exhibition Bureau, presided over a meeting for TCEB committee members at the
Royal Cliff Beach Resort on April 10, with a five-year plan for stimulating
the lucrative MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions)
sector of the tourism industry.
 TCEB
deputy director, Nipat Ditheepen gave additional details at the meeting.
The meeting also reviewed the past four years of business, with TCEB deputy
director Nipat Ditheepen saying that several weak points had been revealed
during the review sessions, including red tape that limited operations for
the private sector.
Nipat said that the importance of MICE could not be stressed too highly. Not
only did this involve bringing high-profile events to Thailand, but also
research has proven that delegates traveling here on this type of business
typically spend between three and four times the amount that ordinary
tourists spend.
A learning center has been opened, named the MICE Academy, in conjunction
with specialists UFI of Germany. This center has been in service for six
months, and has students from several countries around the world, including
China and Russia.
There is also a MICE Information Center, which acts as a national center for
offering all kinds of information necessary to planners and organizers.
“Promoting Thailand as a venue to private organizations is a very good
investment, which results in increasing the country’s reputation and income
from tourists,” said Mom Rajawongse. “This method uses less capital than
attempts to bring new tourists to Thailand.”
Panga Vathanakul, managing director of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, joined
the TCEB committee members for lunch at PEACH, the resort’s own stand-alone
meetings center. She said that in recent months there have been several
large-scale events involving the international travel and hospitality
industry at PEACH, including the 67th Skๅl International Congress, which had
gained excellent comments from the delegates.
Panga said that although Pattaya now has first-class meetings facilities,
the city still lacks a major organization to back these events here. She
asked for the cooperation of the TCEB in bidding for and organizing more
international MICE events in Pattaya. Mom Rajawongse agreed, saying that the
TCEB is already working on this matter.
June next year will see the 2008 Lions Clubs International Convention held
in Bangkok, an event that is anticipated to bring 30,000 Lions Clubs members
from around the world, during which time a Lions District Governors-Elect
Seminar will be held at PEACH in Pattaya.
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