Thailand Travel TalkM

AY — JU

NE

2011

MORE than 10,000 shops, department stores,spas, airlines, hotels, and hospitals are to partici-pate in the biggest-ever Grand Sale to be held inThailand’s key tourism destination cities such asBangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Hua Hin, KohSamui, Hat Yai, and Phuket between June 15 andAugust 15, 2011.

The annual Amazing Thailand Grand Sale isbeing organised by the Tourism Authority ofThailand (TAT) together with VISA Interna-tional.

This year, special attention is being paid topromote the sale of locally-made products; suchas, handicrafts, apparel, decorations, and home-use products made under the umbrella of the OneTambon One Product (OTOP) scheme.

The OTOP scheme allows villages all overThailand to specialise in making local productswith the government providing support for mar-keting, distribution and sales. This contributes

significantly towards job creation, and povertyalleviation in the provinces.

Popular retail and wholesale markets whereOTOP and locally-made products are availableinclude Chatuchak Market (JJ Market), J.J. Mall,MBK, Platinum, and others.

TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni said,“Thailand is a shopping paradise for worldwidevisitors, thanks to our value-for-money factor andextensive diversity of products and services...”

Also participating this year are the King Powerduty-free outlets, jewellery and accessories, golfcourses, restaurants, and online travel agents. Lo-cal shopping streets will be organised in all theparticipating cities.

Shoppers will also get shopping discounts ofup to 80 per cent on a broad range of productsand services and up to 20 per cent off on foodand beverage. They will have a chance to winlucky-draw prizes.

Those who book their travel plans in advancewith participating tour operators and airlines intheir respective countries will get additional be-nefits; such as, special discount cards from lead-ing retail outlets, discounted travel insurance, andFast Track coupons to cut waiting times at air-port immigration channels.

Mr Suraphon said, “Thailand is a shoppingparadise for worldwide visitors, thanks to our va-lue-for-money factor and extensive diversity ofproducts and services...”

Participating travel agents in Malaysia are Air-link, CIT, Keris Travel, Globalite, HYT, KlangValley Travel, KTS, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airli-nes, Malaysian Harmony, My Axis, Skyzone,Tous of Peninsular and Thai Airways Internatio-nal. For further details and a full list of all theparticipants and their various special offers andrewards, please click www.tourismthailand.org/thailandgrandsale.

BIGGERBETTER

SAWATDI khrap and welcome to another edi-tion of the Amazing Thailand Travel Talk, ourbi-monthly newsletter, which brings you allkinds of news and events throughout Thai-land.

As some of you may already know, we havejust celebrated the Thai New Year in mid-April.Many thanks go out to the Malaysians whoflocked to Hat Yai to help us celebrate thewater festival or mid-night Songkran. It wasindeed a happy and memorable occasion see-ing that the Thai New Year was a working dayin Malaysia.

Travel agents and journalists on an educa-tional trip to the Songkran Festival in Bangkokwere also introduced to the nine wonders ofWat Pho. Known as the Temple of RecliningBuddha, it is one of the oldest and largesttemples in Bangkok, it was a centre of medi-cal science and Thai traditional massage. Res-tored in the 18th century, the temple has ninemain attractions — the Viharn Phranorn, Satel-lite Pavilions, Phra Maha Chedi Si Rajakarn,Nang Songkran murals, World Heritage Ins-criptions, Wat Pho Giants, Sala Karn Palen,Phra Buddha Deva Patimakorn and the Contor-ted Hermit Mount. Those visiting Bangkok forthe first time should not miss the chance topay a visit to Wat Pho, which is home to themost Buddha images in Bangkok as well assheltering the biggest Buddha image in Thai-land.

I would like to remind all of another yearlyoccurrence that had always been of interestto Malaysians and Bruneians. That’s right, it’sthe Amazing Thailand Grand Sale from June15-August 15. As you can read in the coverstory, you may enjoy up to 80 per cent dis-counts and many other privileges during thepromotion period. In addition, every 500 bahtthat you spend earns you a chance to win a30-day all-expenses paid vacation to Thailand.

Another promotion you may want to consi-der the next time you have a stopover in Bang-kok on your way to anywhere else in the worldis the Bangkok Stopover Amazing Offers. It isa campaign designed to increase the attrac-tion of stopping over in Bangkok as a transithub and help enhance the awareness andexposure of the mainstream global tourismcampaign “Amazing Thailand Always AmazesYou”.

We are also happy to be at the forefront ofgreen tourism. TAT’s Green Tourism initiativewhich is geared towards the international mar-ket is called Go Green, Go Thailand, whichencourages the public and private sectors toapproach tourism with greater environmentalcare. When you visit Thailand you will noticethat this now the thrust of our domestic campa-ign, as reflected in TAT’s green slogan for thedomestic market for 2011, Travel with NewHearts for a Sustainable Thailand.

Those who love widgets on their computerscreens may download a free TAT widget atour website. You would get yourself a set ofhandy, fun tools including a Thai-themed calen-dar, currency converter, wallpaper, folder iconsand much more.

Thank you and we hope to see you soon inThailand.

MR WIBOON NIMITRWANICHDirectorMalaysia & Brunei

Director’s Message TTTTTAAAAAT wins twoT wins twoT wins twoT wins twoT wins twoPATA Gold AwardsTHE Tourism Authority of Thailand had wonPATA Gold Awards for ‘Amazing Thailand so-cial networking’ in Marketing — Primary Gov-ernment Destination Award Category and‘World Thai martial arts and Wai Khru MuayThai ceremony’ under the Culture Category.

These awards have long been proudly sup-ported and sponsored by the Macau GovernmentTourist Office. This year, the awards recognisethe achievements of 21 separate organisationsand individuals. The awards ceremony took placeat the PATA 60th Anniversary and Conferencein Beijing, China.

PATA Grand Awards are presented to outstan-ding entries in the four principal categories: Mar-keting, Education and Training, Environment,and Heritage. This year, the Grand Awards go toAccor Asia Pacific, Singapore, for Education andTraining; Kerala Tourism, India, for Environ-ment; Galle Face Hotel, Sri Lanka, for Heritage,and Tourism Australia in the Marketing category.

Thailand's presence at MThailand's presence at MThailand's presence at MThailand's presence at MThailand's presence at MAAAAATTTTTTTTTTA A A A A FFFFFairairairairairTHAILAND made its presence felt at the recentMATTA International Travel Fair with some 30booths made up of hoteliers and service provi-ders.

The Thai booths were represented by hotelsfrom the south such as Phuket and Krabi as wellas those from the north and north-east regions.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand also brou-ght in therapists from the Rarinjinda Spa as wellas silversmiths from Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Throughout the three-day event, visitors werealso entertained by a troop of Thai traditionaldancer from Rajabhat University in Nakhon SriThammarat.

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) con-tinues to promote the country as Asia’s leadingshooting location as well as maintaining themomentum of filmmaking activities by inviting23 foreign film industry leaders to visit Thailand.

Film directors from Malaysia, China, Russia,Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Viet-nam and the United States had the opportunityto explore potential filming locations and facili-ties in the country’s central and northern regionsduring a familiarisation trip from March 27 toApril 3, 2011.

The film directors also visited support infra-structure including lab facilities, recording stu-dios and other service providers. The highlight

of their trip was a meeting with leading Thai filmdirectors.

“While we reach millions of potential visitorsthrough our regular marketing campaigns, filmsare a great way to highlight Thailand’s naturalbeauty and attractions..." said TAT GovernorSuraphon Svetasreni.

Among the hundreds of crews that filmed inthe country last year, Thailand welcomed teamsfor Hollywood productions of Mission Impossi-ble and The Scorpion King 3. In addition,to itsnatural attractions and varied landscapes, Thai-land has the advantage of a solid infrastructurefor both pre- and post-production including skil-led people for audio visual effects, advanced equ-

Joint TAT-Qatarfamiliarisation trip

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand, Kuala Lumpurorganised a joint-familiarisation trip to Phuket withQatar Airways recently for travel agents and the localPress. The airline, which flies between Doha and KualaLumpur stops over in Phuket on both legs.

Qatar Airways flies daily between the two destina-tions and is a new international airline to fly to Phuket.

In addition to Qatar Airways, other flights fromKuala Lumpur to Phuket are by Malaysia Airlines andAirAsia. Firefly flies daily between Penang andPhuket.

Muslim agents,Muslim agents,Muslim agents,Muslim agents,Muslim agents,media visit Krabimedia visit Krabimedia visit Krabimedia visit Krabimedia visit Krabi

TRAVEL agents specialising in Muslim tours weretaken on an educational trip to the province ofKrabi recently for them to have a look at the fa-cilities available for their clients.

With the main concern of the Muslim groupsbeing halal fool, their minds were put to rest afterthey were shown that there are many such restau-rants available. The travel agents were also accom-panied by journalists from the local magazine andnewspapers.

They also were taken for a tour of the variousplaces of interest in Krabi, which is slowly attract-ing visitors from Malaysia who love eco and ad-venture tourism. AirAsia flies daily between KualaLumpur and Krabi.

ipment and qualified workers, as well as tremen-dous value for money.

The Thai government has increased its sup-port for the film sector by waiving fees for shoot-ing permits on government-owned properties in-cluding national parks supervised by the Wildlifeand Plant Conservation Department; along withproperties under the Royal Forestry Department,Royal Irrigation Department, Fine Arts Depart-ment, Treasury Department, State Railway ofThailand and Suvarnabhumi International Air-port. This fee waiver will remain in effect untilthe end of December 2011, except for nationalparks, for which the fee waiver policy will ex-pire on 1 December, 2011.

TAT hosts film directors, producers's visit

AS awareness of climate change and the need to preserve the environmentis becoming a major concern for travellers all over world, the TourismAuthority of Thailand (TAT) is commemorating its 51st Anniversary bybuilding on the success of its focus on “Green Tourism.”

“Over the past 51 years, TAT has achieved our goals, thanks to greatcontributions from the Thai public and private sectors, individuals, as wellas Thailand’s immense appeal as a tourist destination. The key factor inour success has been what we call Thainess — the richness of our uniquecultural heritage combined with the warm nature and welcoming hospital-ity of the Thai people,” said TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni.

Established in March 18, 1960, TAT was the first organisation in Thai-land specifically to promote tourism. During its first 50 years, the deve-lopment of Thai tourism mainly focused on its social and economic as-pects. Now TAT is putting greater emphasis on minimising tourism’senvironmental footprint. TAT has aligned itself in three key dimensions,which are the economy, environment and society, to ensure long-term,sustainable tourism marketing for the future. This new emphasis is re-flected in TAT’s green slogan for the domestic market for 2011, Travelwith New Hearts for a Sustainable Thailand.

TAT’s Green Tourism initiative geared towards the international marketis called Go Green, Go Thailand, which encourages the public and privatesectors to approach tourism with greater environmental care. It is based onthe TAT’s concept of Seven Greens which includes Green Hearts, GreenLogistics, Green Destinations, Green Community, Green Activity, GreenService and Green Plus, which is the ultimate combination of eco-concernand visitors’ CSR awareness.

“In 2011, TAT will further strengthen our ‘Green Tourism’ initiative toredefine the many environmental-friendly activities visitors can explore

Go GreeGo GreeGo GreeGo GreeGo Greennnnn, Go, Go, Go, Go, Go Thailan Thailan Thailan Thailan Thailanddddd TAT redefines GreenGreenGreenGreenGreen Tourism

and cherish in Thailand. Through collaboration with various partners, wecontinue to identify interesting options for eco-friendly travel; such as, theGreen Hotels and the Green Islands of Ko Chang...” said Governor Sura-phon.

The TAT’s Green Leaf Certification Programme honours hotel owners,operators and their business partners, who use environmentally-efficienttechnology to complement their tourism activities. The programme hascurrently placed 220 certified Green Leaf hotels and 535 smoke-free ho-tels on the map.

Widget for your PCVISIT Thailand from your desktop. Nowbeautiful Amazing Thailand widgets can bedownloaded.

No matter where you are, you can expe-rience a piece of Thailand every day withour new widget.

In it, we put together a set of handy, funtools for you including a Thai-themed cal-endar, currency converter, wallpaper, foldericons and much more.

You will even be able to access Facebookfrom our widget without having to open abrowser.

Click http://www.tatnews.org/others/4739.asp to find out more about this widgetor to download it.

3 Hari 2 Malam shoot in Phuket3 Hari 2 Malam shoot in Phuket3 Hari 2 Malam shoot in Phuket3 Hari 2 Malam shoot in Phuket3 Hari 2 Malam shoot in PhuketTV9 with its crew of six went to Phuket to shoot its season endingsegment recently. The programme, a travelogue which focuses on shortholiday destinations in the South East Asian region.

For the shoot, the team visited the famed Koh Phi Phi and Ao Mayain Krabi as well as Phangnga, with its James Bond Island or Koh Tapuand Koh Panyi and Promthep Cape in Phuket to watch the sun set.

On the last day, they had a tour of Phuket Island’s Patong, Kata andKaron beaches before ending with Rawai Beach, home of the sea gypsy.Here the hosts were able to see first hand how the sea gypsy live.

They later went for an elephant ride before pampering themselves atthe Santi Spa at the Phuket Cannacia. Activities which could be done inthree days and two nights.

FOR as long as most can remember, it had beenthe gateway to Thailand from the east coast stateof Kelantan. Regardless of how it is spelled, Su-ngai Kolok or Sungai Golok, it is one of the mostmulti-lingual of town in Thailand with Thai, Eng-lish, Chinese and Malay being spoken widely.The people of Sungai Kolok had shared a cul-ture and tradition quite similar to those of theirKelantanese counterparts and over the last 100years or so a very thin line separates what is Thaiand what is Malaysian in this robust Thai bordertown.

Once known as a cowboy town, Sungai Kolokis famous for its shopping and food. Over theyears it has become extremely popular not justamong Kelantanese but Malaysians from otherstates who flocked there during the weekend.

It is also a gateway to the rest of Thailand forthose living in Kelantan and Terengganu withAirAsia Thailand flying daily between Narathi-wat and Bangkok. Narathiwat is also the railhead

bus terminal and Sungai Kolok bus terminaldaily. The distance is 1227 km and normally takes15 hours.

Narathiwat, the province in which Sungai Ko-lok is located, is a fertile province situated morethan 1,140km south of Bangkok and is connectedby road, rail and air from the capital city. It isone of the most fascinating and mixed places inThailand because of the different cultures andmultiple natural resources.

One of the most famous attractions in the pro-vince is the Budo-Sungai Padi National Park,which was established in 1974 and covers an areaof 294sq km, extending into neighbouring Yalaand Pattani province. The main attraction here isthe Bacho Waterfall.

Narathiwat is one of the four Thai provinceswhich have a Muslim majority and the inhabi-tants here are mostly farmers and fishermen. Theprovince is also well-known for its abundantlongkong fruit.

Some of the attractions worth visiting in theprovince are the Central Mosque of Narathiwatand the Khao Kong Buddhist Park.

Narathiwaton the east coast branch of the State Railways ofThailand’s southern line.

There are two departures daily to Bangkok at11:30 (rapid) and 14:20 (express), both stoppingat Yala, Hat Yai, Surat Thani and many othertowns en route. The 11:30 train arrives in Bang-kok at 08:45, and the 14:20 arrives at 10:30, boththe following morning.

From Sungai Kolok, visitors can depart forBangkok, Phuket, Krabi, Hat Yai, Koh Samuiand other destinations by direct air-con busesfrom Thanon Wongwiwat bus terminal.

Minivans depart to Hat Yai every hour bet-ween 6.00am and 4.00pm. The four-hour tripcosts about baht 300. Numerous travel agentsaround the bus stations will all sell tickets for thesame minivans at the same price. At peak timestwo or three minivans may set off on the hourbut if one is only half full it will wait for morepeople.

Air-con buses run between Bangkok southern

Gateway to Thailand

For more information, contact the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Suite 22.01 Level 22, Menara Citibank, 165 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.Tel: 03-21623480 • Fax: 03-21623486 • Email: info@tourismthailand.my • Homepage: http//www.tourismthailand.org, http//www.tourismthailand.my

Bangkok stopover special ofBangkok stopover special ofBangkok stopover special ofBangkok stopover special ofBangkok stopover special offersfersfersfersfersreturn for a more extended ‘main course’ visit.”

Transfer passengers at international airports inThailand in 2010 totalled 3.4 million, accordingto the Airports of Thailand Public Limited Com-pany’s figures. Stopover itineraries have been de-signed to suit all types of tastes and budgets. Theycover nine remarkably unique experiences withfantastic special privileges.

A website, www.bangkok-stopover.com hasalso been launched with all the necessary details.

“As Thailand is a regional aviation hub, manyflights from Europe stopover in Bangkok. Tran-sit travellers can add a few days in Thailand totheir travel plans,” Mr Suraphon said. “With thenew Airport City Rail link, visitors can get intothe city quickly and easily.

Prospective visitors are advised to book in ad-vance and specify that this is a promotion of theBangkok Stopover. For more information, pleasecheck the web site www.bangkok-stopover.com.

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) toge-ther with a broad range of industry alliance part-ners will launch the Bangkok Stopover AmazingOffers, a seven-month campaign to attract moretransfer passengers and stopover visitors toBangkok.

It is designed to increase the attraction of stop-ping over in Bangkok as a transit hub and helpconvert today’s stopover tourists into tomorrow’sextended-stay tourists. It will also help enhancethe awareness and exposure of the mainstreamglobal tourism campaign Amazing Thailand Al-ways Amazes You.

TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni, who laun-ched the campaign at the ITB Berlin 2011, said,“Visitors transiting in Bangkok before headingonto their planned destination will be enthralledby these ‘appetizer’ tours. They will get a fantas-tic first-hand experience of what Bangkok andits nearby environs have to offer and hopefully

WITH cooperation between the Tour-ism Authority of Thailand (TAT) andthe Thai tourism industry, Thailandhas the honour to be the host of thelargest B2B event ‘Thailand TravelMart Plus Amazing Gateway to theGreater Mekong Sub-region’ (TTM+GMS).

The event, first organised in 2001,has the uttermost objective to promotethe tourism and service business inThailand and its Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) counterparts. Small andmedium entrepreneurs (SMEs) havealso been supported on the internatio-nal stage with their products on offer.

In this period, over 400 booths areavailable for travel operators and serv-ice businesses across Thailand and theGMS countries.

For the year 2011, the ThailandTravel Mart Plus is scheduled to beheld from June 8-10 at the ExhibitionCentre Hall, IMPACT, Muang ThongThani, focusing on trade and businesstalks among operators and participa-nts. As an added bonus, TTM+ buyersand media can also enjoy a full rangeof post tours from June 11 onwards.

TAT would like to take this oppor-tunity to thank you for your interest injoining the TTM+ 2011 and your con-tinued support in promoting Thailand.

Visit http://www.thailandtravel-martplus.com/about_ttm.asp

AmazingGateway

to MekongSubregion

Songkran joy which are famous as the Wat Pho Giants;7. Sala Karn Palen — The sala was built dur-

ing the Ayutthaya period as the main chapel;8. Phra Buddha Deva Patimakorn — this

Buddha image sits in the main chapel con-structed during the Ayutthaya period;

9. Contorted Hermit Mount — built duringthe reign of King Rama I, it was the centreof medical science.

It certainly was not a visit easily forgotten for thegroup.

FOR agents selling Bangkok it was a thrilling visitto the Thai capital and a chance to enjoy the Thainew year drenched to their skin.

They joined a group of Malaysian journalists whowere taken on a trip to Bangkok and beyond duringthe Songkran Festival recently.

For most it was their first time celebrating the fes-tival as they joined thousands of Thais and foreigntourists who came out to celebrate the occasion asthey took part in the festivities on the banks of theChao Phraya River.

During their visit the group were also introducedto the Nine Wonders of Wat Pho which are:

1. The Viharn Phranorn — the building forhousing the most beautiful reclining Buddhaimage in Thailand;

2. Satellite Pavilions — the library of the Thaitraditional massage inscriptions;

3. Phra Maha Chedi Si Rajakarn — a group offour huge pagodas surrounded by a whitewall with Thai-Chinese style sheltered gates;

4. Nang Songkran is the story involving KingKabilaprom and Prince Thammaban, that areshown on the inner walls of the porticos inthe reign ogf King Rama II;

5. The World Heritage Inscriptions — themuseum of Buddha images of differentstyles are classified into three categories,which are Buddhist Art, Buddha’s Marksand the Buddha’s Attitudes;

6. Wat Pho Giants — The outer side of PhraMondop is decorated with Thai proverbs

Register for Cleveland Srixon CSSB Golf OpenFOR a chance at taking part in the grand finals ofthe Cleveland Srixon CSSB Golf Open in HuaHin-Cha-am (Palm Hills Golf Resort) and Bang-kok (Lam Luk Ka Country Club) from Septem-ber 21-24 this year, visit the website and make

your bookings to play in the 14 legs of the tour-nament.

Winners qualify automatically for the grandfinals. Book your place at http://www.cssbgolf.-com.my/2011/06registration_form.php.