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HRH Princess Soamsawalee presides over new premier seaside zone opened at Sai Kaew Beach Resort
Her
Royal Highness Princess Soamsawalee graciously presided over the official
opening of Sai Kaew Beach Resort’s Premier Seaside zone recently on Koh
Samet. HRH the Princess was welcomed by Komol Pornpattanasavai (left),
managing director of Samed Resorts Group, and members of the management and
staff of Sai Kaew Beach Resort.
Dusit Thani Pattaya receives
Best City Hotel recognition
at Thailand Tourism Awards 2010
Chatchawal Supachayanont (2nd right), general manager of Dusit Thani Pattaya
accepts the “Best City Hotel for Tourism Accommodation” award from H.E.
Chumphol Silapa-archa, Minister of Tourism and Sports during the 8th
Thailand Tourism Awards 2010 held recently in Bangkok.
Dusit Thani Pattaya was one of the 75 organizations that
received their respective accolades at the Thailand Tourism Awards 2010
hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and held in Bangkok on 27
September.
The awards were divided into five categories: tourist
attraction, tourist accommodation, tourism development and promotion
organizations, tour programs, and health tourism.
Twenty nine countries were given recognition for their
continued contribution towards the advancement of Thai tourism as well as
their support to Thailand’s green objectives.
The recognitions honored the winners’ finest achievements
and contributions to sustainable Thai tourism, conservation and
environmental protection efforts. The event, which is held every two years,
is Thailand’s ‘Hallmark of Excellence’, a symbol of assurance in the
outstanding quality and reliability of tourism products and services offered
by a particular organization or operator.
Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel general manager Chatchawal
Supachayanont accepted the Best City Hotel (with over 80 rooms) Award under
the Tourist Accommodation category and shared the achievement with hotel
staff and management. He emphasized the need to be passionate in their
environmental efforts and encouraged everyone to continue doing their share
in the hotel’s ongoing initiatives. The five-star resort also won in the
same category in 2008.
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AOT reviews incentives, expands airports
Sirima Eamtako, TTG
Asia
The Airports of Thailand (AOT) is mulling the extension
of incentives and embarking on expansion programs for airports in Bangkok
and Phuket.
AOT senior executive vice president, business development
and marketing, Nitinai Sirismatthakan, said AOT was mulling the extension of
discounts on landing and parking fees.
The AOT incentives, offering 15 percent discount on
landing fees and 50 percent off parking fees for airlines that signed the
concession contract before March 31, expire on December 31.
Meanwhile, after much delay, AOT has started on the
expansion of Suvarnabhumi and Phuket Airports this month.
The 62.5 billion baht development at Suvarnabhumi
Airport, to be completed in 2016, will increase the airport’s annual
passenger capacity from 45 million to 60 million.
Phuket Airport’s 5.8 billion baht expansion program will
raise annual capacity to 12.5 million passengers from 2013 to 2020, from the
current 6.5 million.
Both airports are now nearing saturation point, with
Phuket Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airport chalking up six million passengers
and 40 million passengers respectively last year.
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International Wine Challenge - a major highlight at the Food and Hotel Thailand 2010
(L to R)
David Aitken, General Manager, Bangkok Exhibition Services Ltd.; Visart
Dejkul, Marketing Manager, Sri Siam Wine Co., Ltd.; Pongsak Tiamsuttikarn,
Manager, The California Wine Co., Ltd.; Visooth Lohitnavy, Chairman & Owner,
Gran Monte Co., Ltd.; Michel Conrad, Wine Director, Independent Wine &
Spirit (Thailand) Co., Ltd.; Anirut Posakrisna, Chairman, Wine Dee Dee Co.,
Ltd.; Ranjith Chandrasiri, Chairman of Wine Judging Panel; Sanjog Modgil,
President FBAT, Thailand.
Thailand’s leading international food and hospitality
trade event, the Food & Hotel Thailand 2010 was held September 15 - 18 at
the Royal Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon, Bangkok. Despite the challenging
economic and political situation, this year’s show was a resounding success
with over 12,000 sqm of the Royal Paragon Hall being transformed into an
all-in-one exhibition for the food and beverage, hotel, retail and
hospitality industries. This year’s event was the platform for new
innovations, new trends and new technology essential for the food, hotel,
restaurant and hospitality industry in Thailand and the region.
This year the Food & Hotel Thailand 2010 was co-located
with Thailand’s International Culinary Cup and the Hospitality & Retail
Technology Asia 2010 coupled with highlighted activities such as the
International Wine Challenge organized by the Food and Beverage Association
of Thailand (FBAT).
Chaired by the President of Royal Cliff Wine Club,
Ranjith Chandrasiri, the 2010 Wine Challenge was held on day one with an
extensive selection of international wines being judged in 10 categories of
Premium and Super Premium categories based on retail pricing. Prestigious
FBAT Wine Challenge Trophies and wine bottle stickers were awarded to all
wines in each category, ranked gold, silver or bronze based on averaged out
scores from the judges. Trophies were presented to each category winner and
the best overall winner by Chandrasiri at the award ceremony and cocktail
reception held in the evening.
The walk-away winning distributor was Wine Dee Dee Co.,
Ltd. with 5 gold medals for its entries. The California Wine Co., Ltd. won 3
gold medals followed by Sri Siam Wine Co., Ltd. and Festive Wines and
beverage Co., Ltd. winning two gold medals each. GranMonte Co., Ltd., the
only Thai wine producer to win a medal, was awarded a gold medal for their
entry GranMonte 2005 Fiori Unfiltered Syrah in Super Premium Syrah/Shiraz
category.
The overall winner in the Premium category was Stonefish
Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 and the overall winner in Super Premium category was
MacManis Cabernet 2008.
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Qatar Airways goes
direct to Phuket
Qatar Airways launched direct flights from Doha to Phuket
on October 12, starting with six weekly flights.
Serviced by a 272-seat Airbus A330, the new route will be
Qatar Airway’s second destination in Thailand, after Bangkok.
“The Middle East in general and GCC countries in
particular are very important sources of visitor arrivals for us in
Thailand,” said Pramoth Supyen, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand’s
Dubai office.
Middle East visitor arrivals to Thailand from January to
August increased 25 percent over the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways will increase flights between
Doha and Bangkok from two to three flights daily from November 1. (TTG
Asia)
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