Smaller stimulus budget forces TAT to revise marketing plans

Sirima Eamtako,
TTG Asia

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is revisiting its existing tourism marketing budget after the Cabinet approved only 22.5 percent of the total requested stimulus.

The TAT sought an ad hoc budget of 1.6 billion baht for an image campaign in the aftermath of the recent political crisis, but only received 360 million baht for domestic tourism marketing.

TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni said the extra amount for domestic tourism would be spent on four projects - creating tour packages in consortium with domestic tour operators, staging Thai Tourism Festivals in five regions, events marketing and online tools.

Domestic tourism will be marketed under a Thai campaign, translated as “Give Thailand a warm hug”.

Suraphon said for inbound tourism, marketing departments for long haul and short haul markets would have to adjust their strategies based on the existing budget. A mega familiarization trip for about 500 to 600 overseas agents and media will be held in early July while an image campaign is in the works.

He said TAT planned to announce its short-, medium- and long-term strategies for Thailand tourism recovery on June 17. (At press time, the strategies had yet to be announced.)

Colliers International Thailand appoints new director of hospitality

Colliers International Thailand has recently announced the appointment of Jean Marc Garret, a French national, as director of hospitality, to direct the growing business of hotels and leisure.

Jean Marc Garret, director of hospitality at Colliers International Thailand.

In his new role, Jean Marc in addition to the fundamental hotel brokerage activity of the group in Thailand, will be responsible for the company’s Consultancy Services Division, hotel financial assistance, corporate solutions, project development support, asset management as well as assisting in the development of investment programs and all related opportunities.

A 30 year hotel veteran, he brings with him a wealth of experience in the tourism and travel industry. A graduate of the University of Law and Economics of Nice in France, Garret first arrived in Thailand more than 22 years ago to participate in the opening of Le Meridien in Phuket. He has since become a resident of Thailand where he also served as honorary consul of the Principality of Monaco and president of the Franco Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Garret is particularly well known within the hospitality industry circles for his keen business acumen and foresight in the field of development as well as management of hotel properties. He has diverse records of success in the areas of consulting and operations with global hotel chains such as Accor, Le Meridien and Choice Hotels International in Thailand.

Prior to joining Colliers International Thailand, he spent 12 years with the Centara Hotels & Resorts group, with his last position being senior vice president of development.

Jean Marc Garret is also chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce.

Colliers International Thailand believes that with his track records of expertise in the local market, Jean Marc will be an added asset in our Team to accelerating success and contribute to help our clients to make the right choices for their hospitality business.
 

Retail vendors contest selling space, customers on Silom Road’s ‘walking street’

More than 1,000 troops and police on Saturday tried to talk regular vendors on Silom Road into compromising with ‘special occasion’ retail sellers whose businesses were affected by the recent riots in the capital who registered with the district office to sell their products on the street during the festive trade fair.

Soldiers and police were sent to Silom Road, Bangkok’s central business district, after conflicts arose between regular street vendors and visiting retail traders who registered with the city’s Bang Rak district office to sell their products during the municipality’s two-day ‘Together We Can’ grand sale which began Saturday and ended Sunday.

No problem occurred during the two previous trade fairs on the road when small-scale entrepreneurs were encouraged to sell products on the one-kilometer stretch of road from Sala Daeng to Narathiwat Rajanakarin intersection. The booths are intended as a means to help small businesses affected by the riots which ended on May 19 after the military crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Bang Rak district chief Surakiat Limcharoen said the problem began after an argument arose between regular vendors and some 500 outside vendors who failed to receive permission from the district office to sell during the ‘walking street’ fair occupied tents which were erected for use by registered retailers.

Each regular vendor on Silom Road is allowed to share a tent with each registered outside seller but the regular vendors misunderstood as each of them occupied a tent themselves, said Surakiat.

As negotiations continued, about 300 sellers who failed to receive permission to sell during the trade fair stood in front of an office building, awaiting the district office to solve the problem. No violence was reported. (TNA)

Revenue collection higher than targeted in May

The government collected Bt276 billon in net revenue in May, which is Bt2.7 billion higher than targeted, resulting in an increased revenue collection in the first eight months of Fiscal 2010 by over Bt210 billion baht or 23.2 percent from the earlier projection.

Satit Rungkasiri, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office, revealed in May the government earned a net revenue of Bt276.09 billion, which is Bt2.73 billion or 1 percent higher than targeted, since the period for submission of corporate tax payments in the 2009 accounting year ended in the month.

Corporate tax collections reached 126.91 billion, which is Bt7.89 billion higher than projected, due to the higher-than-expected operating performances in the second half of last year.

In addition, consumption and imports continued growing in May, resulting in an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) collection by more than Bt7.17 billion from the projection.

In the first eight months of fiscal 2010 (October 2009-May 2010), the government collected Bt1.12 trillion, which is Bt211.87 billion or 23.2 percent higher than targeted, due to the higher-than-forecast collection of taxes, particularly VAT, and oil and vehicle taxes, and the acquisition of Bt49.02 billion in assets seized from fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in April 2010.

However, the recent political unrest and rescue measures taken by the government to help entrepreneurs affected by the rally have dampened revenue collections in May from the consumer sector and imports to a certain extent, Satit said.

“Although the recent political mayhem will affect the economic expansion and the government’s revenue collection, the Finance Ministry remains confident the collection in the rest of this fiscal year will reach Bt1.52 trillion as projected,” he said. (TNA)