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THAI flies seven promotions to counteract low season slump
Thai Airways International (THAI) president, Kanok
Abhiradee, announced seven promotional campaigns to boost sales and tourist
arrivals into Thailand during low season, April-July 2005.
Kanok Abhiradee said that to promote the Thailand tourism
industry and sales for travel to THAI’s new destinations, THAI’s
Commercial Department created seven sales promotion activities to boost the
travel market.
These included:
1.1 Revisiting Thailand 2005, on board lucky draw. 20,000
tickets will be distributed during lucky draws on all of THAI’s inbound
flights to Thailand during December 2004 - July 2005 to attract passengers
to re-visit Thailand during April-July 2005.
 Kanok
Abhiradee, THAI’s president
1.2 Visit Your Loved One, Royal Orchid Holidays Stop over
Special Fare Package to invite passengers from Greece and Italy traveling to
Australia and New Zealand to stop over in Thailand as a transit destination
between January and September 2005.
1.3 Homecoming, a Special Royal Orchid Holidays Package
created for Thais living overseas to visit Thailand during May - June 2005.
1.4 Corporate Traveler, to persuade overseas corporations
and international companies in Thailand, to organize meetings, incentives,
conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) in Thailand during April-July 2005.
1.5 Easy Travel Pack, A Royal Orchid Holidays Package
offered to 45,000 London underground staff who are entitled to 48 vacation
days to visit Thailand with the term of payment by Barclays Bank.
In addition they have Thailand Tourism Promotional
Campaigns:
2.1 Wedding Events and Packages. A Lanna Wedding in
Chiang Mai theme will be promoted, through a special Royal Orchid Holidays
Package with emphasis on Northern Culture and Tradition as the selling point
for European, Asian, Australian, and North American markets. An Underwater
Wedding in Trang theme will be promoted, through a special Royal Orchid
Holidays Package for couples and companions.
2.2 Star Alliance CEO Meeting in Chiang Mai December 11-13 during which
THAI announced their cooperation for Happiness Thailand Year 2005.
Mysterious Mekong - From Simao Port to Ho Chi Minh City
Staff reporters
On January 7, 2005 Chiang Mai will host an exhibition,
“Mysterious Mekong” to be held at the L’Ecole Francaise
d’Extreme-Orient. The exhibition will run through the month of January to
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Informal Northern Thai
Group (INTG). The INTG is entirely organized by volunteers with interests in
matters on Northern Thailand and Southeast Asia.
 Reinhard
Hohler, with his daughter Sara, who is one of the presenters of the ‘Kids
Only’ children’s program, produced by CBN Siam and broadcast on Channel
11.
The “Hovercraft Expedition Mekong” was co-organized
by Brooker Group and Diethelm Travel in Bangkok on November 2-17, 2002 which
covered nearly 3,000km of the river from Simao Port in Yunnan to its delta
in the southern part of Vietnam. When the seats for an Australian film crew
on the return journey were cancelled because of the Bali bombing accident in
Indonesia, tour director Reinhard Hohler had to get it alone back to China.
In this exhibition “Mysterious Mekong”, Reinhard will
position, promote, and protect the different geographical, historical, and
economic aspects of the river. On hand will be a map of the river plus 72
selected photos to demonstrate the outcome of the expedition.
The 72 photos, available on CD, will highlight the
expedition via Jinghong in China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia
to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, displaying the hovercraft, the six members
of the expedition and some scenery in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. The
transfer of the hovercraft around the Khon Falls will be dramatically
exposed.
As well as a spectacular visit to Angkor, there the
gravesite of the world famous French explorer Henri Mouhot is also shown to
give the exhibition historical notes.
Preparations to hold “Exhibition Mekong 2004” were
completed after the opening ceremony at the Sheraton Chiang Mai Hotel on
March 25 for the PATA Mekong Tourism Forum. “PATA, through its Mekong
Tourism Forum, is happy to endorse this exhibition as it celebrates the
spirit of exploration and study in the Mekong,” said PATA
Director-Development, Stephen Yong. “It is only through a greater
understanding of the diversity of this region can we hope to develop truly
sustainable travel and tourism products here.”
The successful display of the exhibition was sponsored
mainly by the German Embassy in Bangkok. Now, it can move to other venues
and hotels that were involved with Expedition Mekong, such as SOFITEL/ACCOR
Hotels within the region. Consequently, any kind of sponsorship is heartily
welcomed.
(Profile of Expedition Mekong’s tour director Reinhard Hohler. He is an
experienced tour director and media travel consultant in the Greater Mekong
Sub-region. He was born in Karlsruhe/Germany, a port on Europe’s Rhine
River. After first studying geology in his hometown and later ethnology,
geography and political science at Heidelberg University, he moved to
Thailand in 1987. Reinhard has led more than 100 study tours, mainly in
Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Yunnan, Hainan, Hong Kong,
Malaysia and Singapore. He also co-authored a book on Yunnan and a TV
documentary about the “Emerald Buddha” in Bangkok. Being a life member
of The Siam Society in Bangkok and currently working on a project about
German explorer Dr Adolf Bastian’s travelogue of Southeast Asia in the
early 1860’s, Reinhard lives in Chiang Mai with his wife and daughter. For
further information, please contact Reinhard Hohler by email:
sara@cmnet.co.th
Thailand plans extravagant New Year celebrations
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has unveiled plans
to hold extravagant New Year celebrations in five of the country’s main
tourist centers. The TAT will spend 20 million baht to create a colorful and
lavish New Year’s count-down celebrations in Bangkok, the northeastern
province of Nakorn Ratchasima, the southern provinces of Phuket and
Songkhla, and the northern resort province of Chiang Mai.
“The tourist authority will create different themes in
each province. In Bangkok it will be a fair and a pop stage show, while
Nakorn Ratchasima will celebrate ‘Mo Lum’ or a traditional performance
in northeastern music and dialect” TAT Governor, Juthamas Siriwan said.
In Chiang Mai, TAT has invited the two tennis stars Maria
Sharapova and Venus Williams to join the New Year count-down. Juthamas said
the two tennis stars were hired to star in a 60-minute television
documentary aimed at attracting more foreign tourists to Thailand. (TNA)
Metropolitan Bangkok joins Leading Hotels stable
TTG Travel Hub
Como Hotels and Resorts’ flagship property in Thailand,
the Metropolitan Bangkok, has been invited to join Leading Hotels of the
World (LHW).
Como launched the outpost of their original London
property in the Thai capital in November 2003. Since then the Metropolitan
has been acclaimed worldwide for its sleek design, superb dining and
refreshingly accurate attitude to service.
Other Bangkok hotels that are members of Leading Hotels
of the World include the Sukhothai, the Peninsula, Dusit Thani and the
Banyan Tree.
Fray over THAI domestic ticketing
Since November 1, domestic tickets on Thai Airways
International (THAI) can only be issued as e-tickets through Amadeus, and
agents not using the CRS have been left out in the cold.
A THAI spokesperson confirmed that domestic tickets, when
bought separately from international tickets, are now only available through
THAI offices or Amadeus. This has rankled some agents using other systems,
such as DTC Travel managing director, Tom Bishop, who are now obliged to
take in an Amadeus terminal. “It turns the clock back twelve years to when
CRS was claiming monopoly on tickets for certain airlines,” Bishop said.
In addition, some reservations made previously by agents
using Galileo, Abacus or Sabre may no longer be honoured.
“In May, a customer booked a THAI flight for New
Year’s Day from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. It was confirmed on Galileo but
when we tried to obtain the e-ticket through Amadeus this month, the
reservation no longer existed and all flights were full,” Bishop said.
(TTG Asia)
AirAsia moves into
the heart of Singapore
New sales office in the CBD
Luc Citrinot
AirAsia has opened a new sales office in CBD Singapore.
The new office is in the Peninsula Plaza Building, 111 North Bridge Road 2,
02-34/35, a few meters away from Singapore’s new Parliament House and
close to one of Singapore’s most lively entertainment areas at Boat Quay.
The new office will provide AirAsia’s customers with
the convenience of making inquiries, bookings and payments. The office is
open everyday from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Alternatively, customers may also purchase their AirAsia
seats via its website at www.airasia.com, by contacting the Call Centre at
+65-6733 9933, or at its airport sales office in Terminal 1 of the Changi
International Airport.
Thai AirAsia had flights connecting Bangkok and Singapore
since February this year. It presently operates three daily flights serving
Bangkok and Singapore. On November 4, Thai AirAsia launched a new route
between Singapore and Phuket, offering more opportunities for Singaporean
beach-lovers to enjoy one of Southeast Asia’s renowned resorts.
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