TRAVEL & TOURISM
HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Thai Garden Resort holds fire prevention training

Phornsiri will not extend term as TAT governor

City focuses on health tourism

PATA questions UK’s decision to raise air departure taxes

Travel advisories against Thailand


Thai Garden Resort holds fire prevention training

Staff learns how to handle a dangerous situation.

Danilo Becker
Thai Garden Resort held his annual fire prevention training in cooperation with the Pattaya City Fire Department on November 20 in and in front of the Moon River Pub.
The training was separated in two sections:
The first part took place in the morning between 9am and 1pm in the Moon River Pub, where the members of the fire department informed the staff of the TGR how to use the right fire extinguishers in the right time for the different kinds of fire. They have been trained how to avoid dangerous situations and the right handling with dangerous equipment, such as gas bottles or electric devices. This training was supported by a PowerPoint presentation.
After the theory training in the morning, they started in the afternoon with the praxis session in and in front of the Moon River Pub. The Fire Department has been teaching our staff how to find a way out from a room or building, if it is impossible to see. This was followed by live fire training, following the motto “learning by doing”.
At about 4pm the training was finished and beside a lot of helpful information and a lot of new experiences, it was a lot of fun for everyone too.
We would like to say a special thanks to the Pattaya City Fire Department.

Thai Garden Resort staff receives hands on training on how to extinguish a fire.


Phornsiri will not extend term as TAT governor

Watchiranont Thongtep, TTG Asia
At a time when Thailand’s tourism is wading through another inevitably tough year, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is poised to lose what the trade hails as one of TAT’s best governors.
By law, TAT’s governor must not be more than 60 years of age. Outgoing governor, Ms Phornsiri Manoharn, will turn 60 in March next year, hence she will automatically end her tenure concluding two years and two months in the top post.
Ms Phornsiri told TTG Daily News she would be stepping down and would not be extending her term. Now PATA chairman-elected for 2008/2009, she said she would spend her post-TAT governor days as chairman of PATA.
TAT board was ready to appoint a selection committee for the new governor at the monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 26. The selection process will take about six months. An acting governor is expected to be appointed to fill the gap while the committee hunts for a suitable candidate.
“Personally, I prefer my successor to come from within TAT. It can be any of the deputy governors, as each one of them has his own distinctive strength, and can continue what I have formulated without any glitches,” Ms Phornsiri added.
The trade also agrees that the new governor should be an insider.
Association of Travel Agents president, Apichart Sankary, said the new governor should have broad international marketing experience, and be tough enough to deal with the current crisis. “He or she should also have the ability to forge close ties with the private sector.”
Tourism Council of Thailand president, Kongkit Hiranyakij, added the new governor should be creative in terms of marketing and savvy in terms of financial management.
 


City focuses on health tourism

Pramote Channgam
Pattaya City is to develop further its potential as a destination for health tourism.
In health tourism, travelers visit destinations congenial to the improvement of their health. These visitors seek healthy and natural locations in which they can make use of available services such as health advice, correct exercise, massage, sauna, herbal remedy, meditation, holistic alternative and traditional medicine.

Assist. Prof. Siriwan Saereerat (right) presents her project.

It also could be that visitors come to use conventional health services in hospitals with good services for checkup and medical treatment, perhaps at a lower cost than in their own countries.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay recently chaired a meeting at city hall to discuss a strategic plan for health and medical services drawn up by Assistant Professor Siriwan Saereerat, which also involved collecting data on foreign health tourists to Pattaya.
Siriwan was on hand to present her findings.
Research data is being gathered by Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, Pattaya Memorial Hospital and Pattaya International Hospital, showing that most of their patients are foreigners.
Verawat said the research data came at no cost to the city, which will receive a large amount of beneficial data on health tourism to the Pattaya.


PATA questions UK’s decision to raise air departure taxes

The UK government’s recent decision to raise departure taxes from British airports is a move that PATA’s interim president and CEO Brian Deeson believes to be short-sighted and self-defeating.
“At a time when the travel and tourism industry is facing an unprecedented threat to long-term financial stability, we see a government in Europe imposing tax increases which pose a real threat to jobs and businesses not only in the UK but in destinations across the Asia-Pacific region,” Deeson said.
“This move by the UK government is simply about increasing revenues for the state under the very dubious cover of consolidating its green credentials.”
PATA supports the views expressed today by the Australian Tourism Export Council, particularly in respect to the threat to tourism markets in emerging markets such as the south Pacific.
Deeson added, “Ironically this is a move by the British government that could easily backfire. Travellers seeking value on long haul routes may now choose an airport in mainland Europe as their principal point of entry and exit.
“This will increase short haul traffic to and from the UK and increase carbon emissions. Long haul flights, by comparison, are more environmentally-friendly on a mile-by-mile basis.
“We’re happy to pay our fair share but these latest tax increases are a disproportionate burden for our industry to bear.” (TTG Asia)


Travel advisories against Thailand

Sim Kok Chwee,
Singapore (TTG Asia)

Bangkok’s situation has resulted in some countries issuing fresh travel advisories against Thailand.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warned of “large-scale political demonstrations” and highlighted the closure of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. It advises Australians to check with airlines on the status of their flights and seek updates on the situation at the airport before travelling to the airport. Australians are also warned to avoid Government House, Parliament building and the police headquarters.
New Zealand, too, has issued a new advisory asking New Zealanders to defer travel to the Thai capital. New Zealanders already at the airport are advised to seek the company of fellow tourists and stay close to relevant information counters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has earlier given Thailand an “extreme risk” label for its border dispute with Cambodia and a “high risk” advisory for its insurgency woes in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and Songkla.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs warns its citizens to “exercise extreme caution” which falls short of advising them to defer non-essential travel. It informs about the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport and labels the situation in Bangkok “highly volatile and unpredictable”.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises its citizens to “be extra careful at the airport” and to avoid the old city centre, Queen Sirikit Convention Centre and other areas where demonstrations are taking place.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued any fresh travel advisory and according to an officer reached on the telephone, the previous advisory issued on September 24, 2008 suffices as the situation is “the same”.
According to ChannelnewsAsia, fresh travel advisories have also been issued by the governments of Malaysia and Russia, the latter an increasingly important source of visitors to Thailand.