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  • BluAnda dodges mass markets, backs quality tours

    BluAnda dodges mass markets, backs quality tours

    PHUKET: For a premium tour company in Phuket, the goal is providing superior services and beating the crowds of a developing mass- tourism market by delivering private experiences at the region’s most well-known destinations. A newcomer to the Andaman island tour market, BluAnda walked onto the scene recognizing exactly that, and within three years has developed a strong client base…

  • Business Buzz: Facebook – unlimited sales potential at our fingertips

    Business Buzz: Facebook – unlimited sales potential at our fingertips

    PHUKET: Marketing 101: to make money you need customers, and to get customers you need a database to market to. The better quality the database, the better the results. But we will come back to that in a minute… These days everyone has heard of Facebook. Most people who are even mildly computer literate have a Facebook profile, no matter…

  • Finance: Drop in oil prices can be a good thing

    Finance: Drop in oil prices can be a good thing

    PHUKET: When it comes to investing, many make it more complicated than it actually is. What I try to do is use common sense and simplify the process. The two big factors driving global markets right now are central banks and the drop in oil prices. Banks have been pumping trillions of dollars into the global financial system ever since…

  • Anthony Lark takes the reins at Trisara

    Anthony Lark takes the reins at Trisara

    PHUKET: Widely respected hotelier Anthony Lark has been appointed managing director and general manager of Trisara, a high-end resort of 48 pool villas and 20 privately owned residences on Phuket’s west coast. In his new role, Mr Lark will continue to provide hospitality advisory services to the clients of the Montara Hospitality Group, which operates the resort, and will develop…

  • Finance: Invest in your children

    Finance: Invest in your children

    PHUKET: I read an article in the BBC recently that I thought was worth sharing with my readers. It was about an investment that actually costs no money, but could yield very large returns to your children in the future. The investment is in their imagination, and the study I read about had some counter-intuitive advice. It actually concluded that…

  • Villa Market opens Boat Lagoon branch

    Villa Market opens Boat Lagoon branch

    PHUKET: The doors to Villa Market’s third branch on the island open on March 20 with the Grand Opening Ceremony in Boat Lagoon taking place on March 27. The grand opening, organized by Kanittha Prasopsirikul from ‘By Kanittha’, will be the highlight of the Boat Lagoon’s monthly Lighthouse Market, which offers a variety of vendors the opportunity to showcase their…

  • Finance: Making realistic retirement assumptions

    Finance: Making realistic retirement assumptions

    PHUKET: The first step when making a retirement plan is to have realistic assumptions about your retirement. Unfortunately, I have found that many of my clients, regardless of whether or not they are expatriates – still working or already retired – have at least one or more of the following unrealistic retirement assumptions: I will retire some place cheaper: Retiring…

  • Finance: Demystifying the ever-ending UK pension reforms

    Finance: Demystifying the ever-ending UK pension reforms

    PHUKET: Since radical UK pension reforms were announced last year, the changes just keep on coming. For those retiring in Phuket with pension rights that they have accumulated over the course of their career, the situation can be very confusing. Indeed, even for a professional in the industry, keeping pace and getting your head around what all the changes means…

  • Generation hospitality

    Generation hospitality

    PHUKET: The hospitality industry in Thailand is struggling. Not because there aren’t enough guests, quite the opposite – the number of rooms on the island is multiplying to accommodate year-on-year increases in the number of tourist arrivals. The problem is the lack of skilled workers, explains Patteera Maneesri, Trisara Group director of human resources and a Trisara Academy director. “We…

  • A very good year for stocks

    A very good year for stocks

    PHUKET: Each year, I head back to the US to see my mother and meet with clients. It also allows me to see how things are going. I need to do this to see if there’s any truth to the headlines I read. You know the ones I’m talking about – stocks in a bubble, economic slowdown, unemployment and so…

  • Experts question long-term tourism policy: Quality vs Quantity

    Experts question long-term tourism policy: Quality vs Quantity

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Experts question long-term tourism policy: Quality vs Quantity The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Experts say the government needs to get serious on the long-term development of the tourism industry, and decide whether quality or quantity – that is, sheer numbers of tourists or how much…

  • Phuket Hotel Association to be key platform for hotel industry

    Phuket Hotel Association to be key platform for hotel industry

    PHUKET: The erroneous ‘No Summer Dream’ fliers, warning tourists and locals not to bring sun loungers to the beach, is the latest blow for authorities attempting to restore a semblance of order to the island’s tourism industry. One that has left hotel and resort owners, as well as their general managers, scrambling for a response and explanation to give to…

  • Travel agency suspected of breaching FBA with nominee | Thaiger

    Travel agency suspected of breaching FBA with nominee

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Travel agency suspected of breaching FBA with nominee The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A Bangkok travel firm is suspected of breaching the Foreign Business Act by having a Thai nominee to hold a majority share in the company, according to the Business Development Department. Pongpun…

  • Chinese medical tourists flock to Phuket

    Chinese medical tourists flock to Phuket

    PHUKET: For thousands of Chinese tourists who flock to Phuket each year, a visit to the island is more than just a chance to relax in the sun. It’s a chance to access medical procedures and treatments not available in their home country. Many countries around the globe have the same pressing healthcare issues: aging populations, increasing medical costs, collapsing…

  • Finance: Learning to re-balance a portfolio

    Finance: Learning to re-balance a portfolio

    PHUKET: Portfolio re-balancing is one of the trickier aspects of investment management, as you will inevitably need to make some hard and counterintuitive decisions to ensure that your portfolio’s asset allocation continues to meet your investment goals and risk-tolerance level. But why, how and when should you re-balance your investment portfolio?WHY YOU NEED TO TAKE WINNERS AND LOSERS OFF THE…

  • Finance: If I could be 30 again

    Finance: If I could be 30 again

    PHUKET: In my last column, I wrote about what advice I would give my 20-year-old self, if I could turn back the clock and do it all again. Today, I will focus on a much more recent time frame in my life and discuss what kind of advice I would give to someone who has just turned 30. What are…

  • Financial outlook for the year ahead

    Financial outlook for the year ahead

    PHUKET: Looking back at 2014, the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) posted a solid year. The S&P +11.4%, Dow +7.5% and Russell 2000 +3.5%. The “buy the dip” mentality began to take hold as any small correction saw buyers step in and purchase equities. 2014 SUMMARY• Soaring Treasury bond prices• Collapse in global commodity prices (oil)• MH17 airline crash,…

  • Phuket’s shining light in the shade business

    Phuket’s shining light in the shade business

    PHUKET: Local Phuket startup Window Design and Awnings Co Ltd, which has rapidly made a name for itself since its founding in 2009, is now looking to expand beyond the Kingdom’s borders. People may have noticed the white curved fabrics spread out over the walkways at Boat Lagoon, but the majority of the company’s clients are four, five and six-star…

  • Finance: Advice for my 20-year-old self

    Finance: Advice for my 20-year-old self

    PHUKET: I know most people in their twenties are typically not interested in planning financially for their futures. Often, they are not very interested in planning for anything other than Friday night – I remember the days when I thought the same way. What advice would I give myself now if I could go back and make decisions based on…

  • Lighthouse Market beacon of light for Boat Lagoon Marina Village

    Lighthouse Market beacon of light for Boat Lagoon Marina Village

    PHUKET: Aiming to appeal to a wider audience and expand its market reach, Phuket’s Boat Lagoon Marina is launching the Lighthouse Market. “We don’t want to focus on one target group or one nationality. This is a market for everyone who enjoys quality – both expats and local Thais,” explained Kanittha Prasopsirikul from By Kanittha, the company behind the new…

  • Strategies for survival: Responding to the Russian tourist crunch

    Strategies for survival: Responding to the Russian tourist crunch

    PHUKET: There was much talk last year of the protests in Bangkok and the ensuing coup striking at the heart of Phuket’s tourism and hospitality industries, with many key tourism figures on the island fearing the worst. Yet, it turns out, that while the island has survived the political turmoil in the country’s capital relatively unscathed, it is events unfolding…

  • Challenge of importing the food Phuket loves

    Challenge of importing the food Phuket loves

    PHUKET: What is the first thing most expats start to miss from their home country? Family? Maybe for some, but for most it’s food. Luckily, the days when all you could eat in Thailand was the local cuisine are gone. Today, buying a piece of Dutch cheese, a few slices of Italian ham or some French paté is as easy…

  • Laguna Phuket wins “Best Tourists Destination in Asia’ award

    Laguna Phuket wins “Best Tourists Destination in Asia’ award

    PHUKET: Laguna Phuket was voted one of the “2014 Best Tourists Destination in Asia” at the 11th Annual Golden Pillow Awards, held in Hangzhu, China, under the award’s category for overseas destinations and hotels. Occupying some 600 acres (2.4 square kilometers) of tropical beachfront parkland on the the northwest coast of Phuket, Laguna Phuket wins its first ever Chinese award.…

  • Finance: The perfect investment for retirees

    Finance: The perfect investment for retirees

    PHUKET: The headlines for the past few weeks have not been pleasant. Stocks have been dropping, oil crashed and if that wasn’t bad enough we had the Ebola crisis. When news like this hits, some people want to run and hide, but I look at it as an opportunity to put money to work. I never invest 100% of my…

  • Phuket’s Boat Lagoon rebrands, sets sail for lifestyle destination

    Phuket’s Boat Lagoon rebrands, sets sail for lifestyle destination

    PHUKET: Do you know why the iPod succeeded? After all, it’s just another MP3 player. Yet it’s so much more than that: a fashion accessory, an icon of a certain lifestyle, a symbol of fun and, of course, a music player. It looks beyond the obvious and expands the concept that leads to such a hit. Here in Phuket, it’s…

  • Laguna Phuket cleans up in dirty laundry trade

    Laguna Phuket cleans up in dirty laundry trade

    PHUKET: Part of the pleasure of holidaying in a good hotel is that you don’t have to do your own laundry. Yetsomeone has to do it for you and for all the other guests. Can you just imagine what a gigantic pile of dirty clothes all the resorts in Phuket generate? But where some see nothing but a lot of…

  • Finance: Oil volatility good for asset class

    Finance: Oil volatility good for asset class

    PHUKET: I used to write about the trend-following sector. Many of the funds I still use went decades with the steadiest performance in the investment industry, while still giving investors above-average returns. Sadly, in the period of low interest rates and volatility following the financial crisis, the entire asset class has struggled. The steady year-after-year forward progress seemed to turn…

  • In Phuket aviation business, the sky is not the limit

    In Phuket aviation business, the sky is not the limit

    PHUKET: Do what you love and make money doing it – how’s that for a business plan? That is exactly what Sky Club Asia co-owners Mark Silverberg and Paul Derstoff did when they turned their passion into a prospering business. Did their leap of faith pay off? One of the things that Mark Silverberg brought with him when he moved…

  • New Editor-in-chief to guide Phuket Gazette multi-media development

    New Editor-in-chief to guide Phuket Gazette multi-media development

    PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette is pleased to announce the recent promotion of Isaac Stone Simonelli to the position of Editor-in-chief. Having spent his years at the Gazette in various roles, including PGTV news presenter, news editor and then Managing Editor (story here), Mr Simonelli is well versed in the major local, national and international issues that affect Phuket people most.…

  • Illuzion show and discotheque to transform Phuket’s nightlife

    Illuzion show and discotheque to transform Phuket’s nightlife

    PHUKET: To help tour operators capitalize on the changing demographics of clients on Phuket’s famed Soi Bangla, which has piqued the curiosity of families and tour groups over the past few years, Patong Dine & Show brings the party street Southeast Asia’s first combined interactive Vegas-style show and discotheque – Illuzion. With a 4-million-baht sound system, a 70sqm LED screen…