|
Thailand to beef up water tourism
Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Ministry of Transport,
Marine Department will co-operate to develop water tourism in the
Kingdom, with particular emphasis along the Chao Phraya River, and the
Gulf of Thailand.
The Thai government will support operation bidding for roll on-roll off
and hydrofoil services linking various tourist destinations along the
upper southern coastline – Surat Thani, Chumphon, Prachuabkirikhan, and
Petchaburi – and the eastern coastal area – Chonburi, Rayong, Trad, and
Chantaburi. The area is dubbed as the Thai Riviera.
In addition, tourism minister, Weerasak Kowsurat, said: “Private
investors could enter into other investment opportunities such as water
sports complexes, aquariums and marinas. When the idea was launched at
ITB Berlin 2008, Middle East investors showed interest.”
The project along the Chao Phraya River includes new coach quays for
tourists hopping into boat trip services and decorative night lights at
the tourist attractions from southern Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani,
to Ayuthaya province. Sightseeing on local boats in Klong (canal) Padung
Krung Kasem is also included.
Weerasak said: “We aim to facilitate greater convenience for tourists
and promote Bangkok as the Venice of the East.”
Other projects include the zoning of tourist beaches for water sports
activities, the development of a marina on the eastern coastline of the
south, and co-operation on safety issues.
“The listed projects are long term and have been assigned to working
groups for research. Hopefully, some of them would be ready for the
2008/2009 budget proposal which has the deadline on May 22,” Weerasak
said. (TTG)
PAL to launch LCC
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is launching a new low-cost carrier (LCC), PAL
Express, with a fleet of turboprop aircraft to domestic island points.
PAL is acquiring three Bombardier Q300s and six Q400s aircraft to comprise PAL
Express’ initial fleet, based mainly in Cebu. The aircraft will be delivered
over the next four to six months.
PAL Express will fly intra-regional routes in the Visayas and Mindanao from its
Cebu hub, and secondary routes to smaller airports in island provinces that
cannot accommodate PAL’s regular jet aircraft. It is expected to carry more than
one million passengers annually.
The new airline will take over the Cebu hub operations and Manila-Caticlan
(Boracay) flights of PAL’s sister airline, Air Philippines. The latter will
continue to offer low-fare services from Manila to other domestic points such as
Iloilo, Zamboanga, Dumaguete and Tuguegarao.
PAL Express will start services on May 5 with eight daily flights between Manila
and Caticlan on 50-seat Q300s. On May 19, it will launch flights from Cebu to
Bacolod, Caticlan, Tacloban, Butuan and General Santos. It will eventually also
have daily Manila-Busuanga (northern Palawan) flights and services from Cebu to
Davao, Iloilo and Puerto Princesa. The airline will fully operate by June or
July. (TTG)
Jet starts Mumbai-Bangkok service
Jet Airways will launch a new direct daily service between Mumbai and Bangkok
from May 7. The airline will operate the flight using the 144-seat Boeing
737-800 aircraft.
Country manager for Thailand, Ms Lackana Wantaywin, said the new flight would
meet growing demand, particularly from the premium leisure and corporate groups.
Ms Wantaywin said she expected the new service would right away run at an
average load factor of 80 per cent – the same level as the airline’s daily
Bangkok-Delhi and Bangkok-Kolkata services.
Jet Airways’ new daily Mumbai-Bangkok service will compliment the airline’s
existing 14 flights per week from India to Thailand. (TTG)
Hong Kong builds
high-speed rail link
Hong Kong will build a high-speed rail link to connect with points in
Guangdong province, which is expected to help the Special Administrative
Region develop as a staging destination for rail trips as far as Beijing.
Starting in the emerging West Kowloon cultural hub, the high-speed line will
be completed by 2014/15 and will be integrated with China’s rail network.
Travel time between Hong Kong and Beijing and Shanghai will be reduced from
the current 24 and 20 hours to 10 and eight hours respectively, while trips
to Guangzhou will be cut in half to about 48 minutes.
Travel agents believe the rail link will have a bigger impact on business
rather than leisure traffic. Travel Industry Council chairman, Ronnie Ho,
said: “There is huge traffic between Hong Kong and Guangzhou every day and
the high-speed service will help business travel in particular because this
is not a sightseeing tourist train,” (TTG)
|
