HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Dusit Thani Pattaya joins in celebrations marking HM the Queen’s birthday

THAI joins IATA offset program

North-Thai mart debuts September

Recovery finally in sight

Jetstar Asia makes Singapore-Phuket comeback

SAS Releases 650000 low fare tickets

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Dusit Thani Pattaya joins in celebrations marking HM the Queen’s birthday

Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh (center) leads City Hall officials in marking HM the Queen’s birthday with Dusit Thani Pattaya’s Thanathorn Phongsri (third left) and Prawes Akanimart (fourth left).

Vanjie Lauzon
Dusit Thani Pattaya joined the entire city of Pattaya in marking HM the Queen’s birthday with activities that signified the importance of preserving nature and the environment.
Highlight of the projects included planting of over 19,000 trees in the Khao Nom forest project at the nearby Koh Larn. The event was participated in by city officials, students and people from all walks of life.
The five-star resort was represented by Thanathorn Phongsri, Thanyathorn Khosinthanaphat and Prawes Akanimart, president of the hotel’s Green Leaf Committee that implements in-house programs and policies towards environmental protection.
August 12 was a national holiday to celebrate the Royal Birthday and Pattaya’s Beach Road witnessed the city’s festive mood as people from different sectors lined the streets to join the celebratory parade that started off at Beach Road and culminated at Bali Hai Pier where more activities were held.

Dusit Thani Pattaya representatives march in the parade
on Beach Road during celebrations for the royal occasion.

THAI joins IATA offset program

Thai Airways International (THAI) passengers can offset their flight-generated carbon emissions now, after the airline became the first in Asia-Pacific to join IATA’s offset program.
Passengers who choose to compensate for their emissions when booking their flights online will be provided information regarding the CO2 emitted for their flight (measured using an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) procedure), as well as the cost to offset that amount of CO2 and the project where the money will be invested.
The IATA Carbon Offset Program invests solely in UN-approved Certified Emissions Reductions (CER) projects and voluntary credits that comply with the recognized Gold and/or Voluntary Carbon Standards.
Passenger contributions are given in full to the sponsored projects. (TTG Asia)
 

North-Thai mart debuts September

Sirima Eamtako,
TTG Asia
About 100 sellers from eight upper northern Thai provinces are expected at the first Northern Eco & Adventure Mart from September 25 to 27 in Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai’s travel trade has pooled more than 10 million baht to debut the mart, which will focus on Bangkok-based inbound travel agents and tour operators in the first year, according to Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association secretary general and marketing promotion chairman Vorapong Muchaotai.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Chiang Mai office director Chalermsak Suranant said about 80 percent of the targeted 300 hosted buyers would come from Bangkok while the remaining 20 percent would be invited from markets such as Australia, Israel and Japan.
According to Vorapong, the organizing committee is considering staging the event alternately with the existing biennial Chiang Mai and the North Tourism Forum.
In related news, local authorities and tourism-related private bodies have agreed to support the new Amazing Lanna Jao discount campaign during the traditional high season. The promotion will offer discounts and special packages at tourism establishments in Chiang Mai and nearby northern Thai provinces from October 1 to April 30, 2010.

Recovery finally in sight

Sirima Eamtako,
TTG Asia
Bookings are up for the coming winter season, raising hopes of a tourism recovery as early as mid-2010.
Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) president Surapol Sritrakul said although Thailand might not escape a drop in arrivals this year, the decline was expected to slow down from October onwards. According to him, the country could start seeing slight increases in arrivals by mid-2010, provided no new crisis occurred and the political situation remained calm.
Surapol said tour operators had begun receiving forward bookings for the next high season from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and some Middle East markets.
The China market, which had dropped substantially after the mid-April Pattaya protests, Bangkok riots and A/H1N1 outbreak, is bouncing back with increased enquiries and discussions on winter charters, according to Vichit Prakobgosol, president of the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association. “We are hopeful the Chinese market will rebound from October onwards as the Thai political situation has remained calm and the A/H1N1 pandemic has become less of a worry.”
Forward bookings from long-haul markets were reportedly slim but some European inbound tour operators were optimistic of a resurgence, albeit at a slower pace.

Jetstar Asia makes Singapore-Phuket comeback

Jetstar Asia will commence double-daily Singapore-Phuket services on December 15, marking the return of the carrier to Phuket after it suspended its four-weekly service in March last year due to weak demand.
The airline will also increase its existing daily Singapore-Manila services by an additional three weekly services to a total of 10 weekly return flights from October 25.
The new services add almost 6,000 and 7,000 weekly seats into and out of Singapore and Phuket respectively.
Yesterday, the airline announced its plans to expand Singapore services by 46 percent over the next 12 months with an eye on services to mainland China.

SAS Releases 650000 low fare tickets

Fly to Scandinavia for THB 19,000 plus taxes

Following March’s successful 10-day sales campaign, SAS Scandinavian Airlines this week launches a follow-up campaign with more special offers.
SAS will release 650,000 low fare tickets on all SAS routes worldwide, including Bangkok to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm, plus many more destinations in Scandinavia and northern Europe. Fares start from only THB 19,000 round-trip (excluding taxes and fuel surcharges). As always with SAS, passengers will enjoy night flights both ways, touchscreen entertainment at every seat and EuroBonus frequent flyer points.
The campaign runs for 12 days between August 20 and August 31. Tickets can be booked on www.flysas.com/th, with your preferred travel agent. Or call the SAS Sales Center on 02 645 8200.
Flights have to be booked before September 1, 2009 and are valid for travel between October 1 and December 15, 2009.
The sale includes seats on all Scandinavian Airlines flights, both short and long haul, as well as on SAS subsidiaries Blue1 and Wideroe.

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