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Bangkok Airways and
Air France welcome first
passenger on code-shared flight
(L to R) Suchard Buranakarn, Bangkok
Airways’ marketing and customer relations’ director; Peter Wiesner,
Bangkok Airways’ senior vice president for marketing; Francois Jacottin,
the first passenger the companies’ code-share flight; Luc Delaplace, Air
France-KLM’s general manager for the Mekong Region; and Sampan Tosawang,
Air France-KLM’s marketing manager for the Mekong Region.
Peter Wiesner, Bangkok Airways’ senior vice president for marketing; and
Luc Delaplace, Air France-KLM’s general manager for the Mekong Region;
jointly welcomed Francois Jacottin - the first passenger on the
airlines’ code-shared flight, at Bangkok Airways’ Blue Ribbon Club
Business Class Lounge at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Jacottin was the first Air France passenger from Paris to connect with
the code-shared flight between Air France and Bangkok Airways to Phnom
Penh.
The airlines signed an agreement earlier this month to connect
passengers to Bangkok Airways’ six destinations in the region, namely
Samui, Phuket, Trat, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang and Phnom Penh.
Wheelchair-friendly ‘dream resort’ opens
Saksiri Uraiworn
Billing itself as a “wheelchair-friendly dream resort,” Roll-in
Mabprachan Resort has opened its doors and ramps near the shores of the
Mabprachan Reservoir.
 Lvdovic
Marchand, Naree Donkrathok, Rod Angwin, Niti Kongkrut and Scott Davies
celebrate the grand opening.
The Aug. 1 grand opening was well attended with Niti Kongkrut, director
of the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Pattaya office leading the guest
list.
Hotel General Manager Naree Donkrathok said many hotels and tourist
attractions don’t provide enough service to the large numbers of
disabled tourists. Two-thirds of Roll-in Resort’s 31 rooms, by
comparison, are wheelchair friendly.
The hotel also offers a full range of accessible amenities, including
pool, sauna, fitness center, cinema and outdoor restaurant. A staff of
40 is on call to assist those with disabilities need extra help.
For more information please contact the hotel at 038-733-360 or online
at mabprachanresort.com.
Dusit International welcomes its first regional vice president for India
As part of its fast track expansion to India, Dusit International appointed
Harsh Varma as the regional vice president to administer Dusit Bird Hotels
Private Limited, a joint venture between Dusit International and Bird Group of
India. Together, these two leading corporations will stimulate India’s hotel
industry with Thai hospitality excellence and Indian innovation. Varma, the
Indian-born hotelier will be the bridge to helping Dusit expand and develop its
brand.
 Harsh
Varma, regional vice president India for Dusit Bird Hotels Private Limited, a
joint venture between Dusit International and Bird Group of India.
“India has always been a key market for Dusit International. Since this is the
first time Dusit will be entering the Indian market, we will need someone with
the capability and expertise, and who understands the market from its heartbeat.
We believe that Varma fulfills these requirements and will be a strong player to
lead this team. With his broad vision for hotel operations, we are confident
that our new hotels opening in India, such as the anticipated Dusit Devarana New
Delhi opening 2010, will quickly establish itself as one of the leading hotels
in the city,” said Octavio Gamarra, senior vice president, Dusit International.
“The Bird-Dusit Joint Venture is looking to bring the best in Asian hospitality
to India before the Commonwealth Games in 2010 to meet some of the shortage in
rooms that is anticipated before this second largest sporting event in the
world. Every aspect of the Bird-Dusit properties will set a new benchmark for
the hotel industry in the country. The appointment of Varma is the first step in
building an exceptional team for our hospitality venture and we expect the team
to grow to more than 200 people by the time we launch our first two properties
next year,” said Ankur Bhatia, executive director, Bird Group.
“We are not only excited for this opportunity to expand Dusit International with
the Bird Group in the booming Indian market, but also to be the first hotel
management company that will successfully combine the unique qualities of Thai
and Indian hospitality. I look forward to the challenges ahead with much
enthusiasm,” said Varma.
Varma, a hotelier who speaks four languages fluently (English, Thai, Hindi, and
Punjabi), and has devoted and achieved over 20 years of experience in the
hospitality field began his life pursuing his interests in Economics and Law.
After his studies, he found that his passion belonged to the hotel industry and
decided to follow this dream. Varma obtained a diploma in hotel management from
the Oberoi School of Hotel Management, New Delhi and decided to embark on his
career path with the Oberoi Group.
His dedication to the Oberoi Group endured for nearly 10 years which gave him
the experience to become general manager for two properties of the Ascott Group,
the largest global serviced residence operator. He continued his career as
general manager with Oakwood City Residence (Bangkok), the largest serviced
apartment development in Southeast Asia, and now to Dusit International as the
regional vice president India.
Dusit Bird Hotels Private Limited forecasts the management of at least six
hotels in India by 2013, including two properties in New Delhi and one in Jaipur
which will be in operation by 2011. With Varma’s extensive background, he will
unquestionably extend Dusit International’s vision to India with certain
success.
Learning from its mistakes,
Thailand’s tourism industry looks
to sustainable community attractions
Staff reporters
It has taken more than 40 years, but Thailand’s tourism industry may
finally be learning from its mistakes. The overdevelopment, pollution and
environmental devastation that resulted from the construction of huge resort
towns such as Pattaya has public officials now looking to develop sustainable
tourism based around small communities.
At an Aug. 4 workshop hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports approximately
180 public officials and tourism industry operators looked at how the country
can build a “community tourism” network focusing on four regions where tourists
can experience the “real Thailand” without changing - or damaging - it.
 Tourism
professionals attend a workshop hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
Seksan Nakwong, director of the ministry’s Tourism Development Office, said that
it is important to balance the desire to grow the tourism industry with the use
of natural resources and the environment. The ministry, he said, wants to create
a framework community leaders can use to alert the government to problems before
they get out of control.
Community tourism differs from traditional tourism which focuses on mega resorts
and big tourist attractions. Instead, rural towns or small urban neighborhoods
develop their own infrastructure and services to attract small groups of
responsible and environmentally sensitive visitors.
In Thailand, such examples of community tourism include hill-tribe villages in
northern Thailand where families host visitors in their own homes or
jungle-trekking through the rural neighborhoods of the south’s Andaman Sea
coast. For tourists, this is as close to an “authentic experience” of someone
else’s culture as is possible for anyone who is not Thai.
By definition, community tourism is ecotourism. Fostered by government and
non-governmental organization money, the attractions are closely watched to make
sure numbers are kept small and the tour operators participating are
responsible. But in Thailand, where investment money for hotels and attractions
in Pattaya, Phuket and Samui took precedence over planning, the government is
taking extra steps to be sure its last frontiers are protected.
The key to that, Seksan said, is creating four community-tourism networks
covering Thailand’s east, northeast, south and central regions. Each region can
be monitored separately, but work cooperatively, he said.
Watching tourist patterns and measuring the sector’s growth will ensure less
damage is done, he said. Communities must work together to draw up their best
selling plans, but can rely on the ministry to be a counselor and will set
standards to ensure the new community tourism attractions offer both good
quality and good protection for the environment.
AFG responds to its membership
Dr Iain Corness
The Automotive Focus Group (AFG) held its monthly meeting at the
Sheraton Resort, later descending to the Beach Bar to indulge in some networking
with the Australian Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) members.
 Dr.
Iain Corness (wearing his Bangkok Hospital Pattaya hat) talks about the H1N1
Swine Flu situation.
President of the AFG, Mike Diamente, revealed the results of a member-wide
survey taken by the executive. Encouraging was the result that showed that 96
percent of the members felt satisfaction with the way the AFG was heading and
its presentations.
At this time, information on Labor Relations headed the list of requested topics
(67 percent), followed by Logistics and Legal aspects. A smaller number of
members were looking for open discussions, but agreed that the topic had to be
known and the size of the groups restricted.
The vast majority of the AFG members were in favor of holding the meetings early
(5 p.m.) and then continuing with AustCham.
 Varadan
Devenathan from Visteon outlines the methods by which his company carries out
Layered Process Auditing (LPA).
At the Sheraton meeting, the first speaker was Varadan Devenathan (Visteon) who
outlined the methods by which his company carried out Layered Process Auditing
(LPA), which he said drives and improves compliance in the work situation. The
‘layering’ denotes the involvement of everyone from the shop floor to the GM,
and he emphasized that top management has to be involved for LPA to work in
demonstrating at what level the failure in compliance has occurred.
He also spoke on the ability of LPA to be used in ‘mistake proofing’, and how a
fresh pair of eyes can often turn up something which had been previously
overlooked.
LPA, he repeated, was a dynamic process.
The second speaker was Dr. Iain Corness (wearing his Bangkok Hospital Pattaya
hat) who spoke on the H1N1 Swine Flu situation. He was able to show that the
incidence and death rates from Swine Flu in Thailand were in line with world
experience, and were really no cause for alarm, though factories should use the
opportunity to look at improving the hygiene situation for the work force.
He explained the term ‘pandemic’ as opposed to ‘epidemic’ and highlighted the
fact that the World Health Organization had been remiss in not giving as much
publicity to the virulence of the virus as it did to the spread. Much of the
anxiety in the public would have been lessened by this, but perhaps the donor
resources would not have been as plentiful.
Brochures were handed out outlining hygiene procedures and the AFG members then
went to the beach to try and sterilize their stomachs, using alcohol liberally
applied from the inside!
Members of the Automotive Focus Group (AFG)
held their monthly meeting at the Sheraton Resort.
AIPA closes mostly peaceful Pattaya meeting
with call for unification by 2015
(L to R) Reytina G. Nicolas, delegate from the
Philippines, AIPA President and Thai National Assembly President Chai Chidchob,
Tong Thi Phong, vice-president of Vietnam’s National Assembly and Tassana
Boontong, second vice president of the Senate and chairperson of AIPA pose for
posterity.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentary Assembly
wrapped up a successful and largely peaceful Pattaya meeting with a joint
message calling for the unification of the ASEAN region by 2015 and a joint
effort to wipe out human and drug trafficking.
 AIPA
President and Thai National Assembly President Chai Chidchob (left) hands over
the gavel to new AIPA President Tong Thi Phong of Vietnam.
The six-day meeting at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort was all but free of the
protests by anti-government “red shirts” who forced the cancellation of an ASEAN
ministers’ meeting in April. The only blemish was a 45-minute standoff outside
an AIPA dinner at a Sukhumvit Road museum Aug. 4 that was defused by a red-shirt
political ally.
Wrapping up the meeting Aug. 6, AIPA President and Thai National Assembly
President Chai Chidchob signed the general assembly’s joint communiqué
reaffirming the need for close cooperation to build an ASEAN community by 2015.
Showing strong support for the regional-integration process, the communiqué said
it is necessary to build a competitive and prosperous ASEAN community in which
AIPA member parliaments play an important role in harmonizing the legal system
and speeding the implementation of economic cooperation agreements among ASEAN
members and outside partners.
The resolution also expressed the hope members can work together to eliminate
human and drug trafficking in the same timeframe.
“As for economic cooperation, an agreement was made to tackle the economic
problems of every AIPA country,” Chai said. The participants suggested building
a sound financial system, improving the macro economy and increasing the quality
of human resources as measures to overcome difficulties and challenges caused by
the on-going global financial crisis.
Next year’s meeting will be hosted by Vietnam and Chai closed the session by
passing the gavel to Tong Thi Phong, vice-president of that country’s national
assembly.
AIPA President and Thai National Assembly President
Chai Chidchob presides over the official closing ceremony.
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